The Blade Alchemist: The War
by Greivous166
Summary: This story continues from the first Blade Alchemist story. Drake and Jess are now married. Drake has gotten his sense of touch back, but at the cost of his memories. He now has no memory of his past world. We now follow the group as they prepare to fight against the homunculi and their 'Father'. And Drake and Jess's lives take a wild turn when a new problem surfaces between them.
1. Repairs And A Gift

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Repairs And A Gift

Drake POV

I didn't sleep at all last night. Me and Jess were awake all night kissing and embracing each other. I finally got my sense of touch back. But it had come at a high price, I now have no memories of before I came to Amestris. None at all, but it was worth it. I got up from the couch and walked to the restroom for a shower, Jess joined me. "What are we going to do about the homunculi and 'Father', Drake?" I reached over and turned the water off. "I don't know. We need to talk with Ed and Al first." We got dressed and walked to the brothers room. I knocked on the door, and after a minuet, Ed told us to come in.

"Morning guys." I greeted and Al looked over to us. "Oh, morning Drake, Jess." We walked over to the couches were Ed was already sitting. "So, what do we do now? How are we going to handle everything we just learned?" I asked as Ed thought it over a minuet. "Well, we need to look into how Scar and that little girls alchemy worked, but ours did not. She's at doctor Knoxs place right now, so we're gonna go talk with her." Ed answered. I lifted up my pants leg that covered my damaged leg from when Envy attacked me in Gluttony's stomach. "While you guys check on that, I have to go to Rush Valley and see Winry. I need to get this leg repaired. When I'm done, I'll meet you guys back here. But call me if you leave Central."

Ed nodded. "You be careful Drake." He stated and I smiled. "Right. You too." We all stood up and I shook the brothers hands while Jess gave them a hug. We gathered our things from the room and left for the train station. It turned out that the train wouldn't be there for another two hours, so we decided to catch an early lunch. "What would you like to eat, honey?" I asked. Jess was looking around, trying to find what she would like to eat. "Hmm, not sure, dear." We settled on a noodle shop and placed our orders. "Jess." She turned to me. "Yes?"

"Are you mad at me? About...making the deal?" She frowned and lowered her head. "Yes….and no. I'm happy you can feel again, Drake. But the cost…..was just too much. But then...you were right. It was your decision to make, not mine. I'm not happy about what you lost, but if it makes you happy, then so am I." She looked at me and smiled. "I love you, freak." I twitched. "Love you too, wolf." We both chuckled as our orders came out. "Thank you sir." I told the waiter as we began eating. "Hey Jess." She looked up from her bowl. "I'm a State Alchemist, it's what I've wanted to do since I came here. I'm just wondering, but what is it you like to do?"

She thought about it for a minuet. "I do like working with automail, but I've also had an interest in alchemy as well. I was hoping to study on it some when I got the chance." I smiled again. "Would you like me to teach you?" She smiled back. "Of course, honey. I would love that." We kissed each other, then finished our food. We walked back to the station and the train was just arriving. We boarded the train and, like always, took the rear most booth. I pulled out an alchemy book I bought when Jess wasn't looking and gave it to her. "Here, hon. For you." She took it and looked at the cover. "Alchemy for Beginners? Thanks, Drake." She kissed me again and began reading as the train left the station.

After about sixteen hours, we finally arrived in Rush Valley, and my butt was sore as hell. "Oh man, that's one of the times that I was glad I couldn't feel anything." Jess glared at me. "Now you know how I always felt of the damn train, freak." I slapped her on the head and she slapped me back. "Ow, damn wolf! That hurt!" She just grinned at me. "I guess you'll behave now, wont you?" I stuck my tongue out at her as she grabbed my face and kissed me. We walked down the street till we found the shop Winry worked in. We walked in and saw Winry sitting and working a drill.

"Hey Winry." I called, and she turned the drill off and looked at us. "Oh, hey guys!" She ran to us as we all hugged each other. That is, until she noticed my busted leg. And...out came the wrench. "Shit!" **Thunk!** She hit me with full force. "OW! Damn it Winry! That hurts!" I yelled. Winry gasped and dropped her wrench. "What….did you….just say?" She stared at me wide eyed. "I said, THAT HURT!" She was shocked. "Drake, you mean...you can feel again?" Winry asked and I looked at her. I smiled and nodded. Winry started crying as she ran to me and closed me in another hug.

"I'm happy for you, Drake. I'm so happy." I returned the hug and then pushed her away. "Um, about the leg, it really wasn't my fault. Jess tried to fix it, but could only manage to reconnect the nerves." Winry looked at Jess. "Where did you learn to do that?" Winry asked as Jess pulled out the tool bag granny gave her. "Granny taught me, and she gave me some tools as well." Winry jumped up and down then encased Jess in a hug. "Please, show me what you've learned." Winry demanded and took Jess to the back room. I moaned. "As I figured, another Winry, but with claws." Jess then poked her head around the corner. "I heard that, freak!"

It turned out that the leg only needed a few replacement parts that Winry happened to have. But now came the worst part, reconnecting the leg. "In 3...2...1" Winry turned the wrench and a very sharp pain shot through my leg. "Ahhhh! Damn that hurts! That's two things I liked about not being able to feel." Winry and Jess both laughed. "You'll get over it, you big baby." Jess stated as I glared at her. "I don't like you right now." Winry tapped my head with her wrench. "Hey, that's your wife. You chose her after all." I smirked. "Yeah, don't remind me." Jess gasped and slapped my face. "You're mean, Drake!" I just pulled her down and kissed her. "But you chose me." We all started laughing now.

We had to stay the night cause the next train wasn't until tomorrow morning. I told Jess and Winry to go have some fun together before we left. I went to the hotel to relax and catch a nap.

Jess POV

Me and Winry went from store to store window shopping and finally stopped at a restaurant for lunch. "So Jess." I turned to Winry. "Yes?" Winry had a sad look on her face. "Ed once explained briefly to me about what he called the gate. He told me that whenever something was given, something else was taken." She turned to me. "Do you know what Drake gave for his sense back?" I lowered my head and tears came to my eyes. "Yes, I do." Winry just stared at me. "May I ask….what it was?" The tears started falling down my face. "His memories." Winry gasped. "What? His…memories? What do you mean Jess?" I was on the verge of out right crying.

"He gave up his memories….of his old world." Winry looked at me with wide eyes. "You…..you mean..." I nodded. "Everything. His friends, his family, all of it. Gone." Winry was now crying and placed her face in her hands. "Why would he do such a thing? Why? How could he live without ever knowing who his family is?" I walked over to Winry, sat next to her, and held her in a hug. "It hurts me too, Winry. But...it was his choice. He made the choice himself. All we can do, is support him." Winry wiped the tears away, but some remained.

She looked at me and tried to smile. "How can you do it, Jess? How do you put up with all this?" I chuckled. "He's my husband, I have to. He promised to trust me, so I have to trust him as well. He made this decision and he is happy with it. No matter what he chose, I would still love him." Winry smiled at me and pulled me into another hug. "Here you go ladies." the waiter said as he brought our food out. Winry paid him and we started eating. "However." I started and Winry looked at me. "Sometimes I just want to beat his face in when he pisses me off." Winry started laughing. "That's marriage Jess. Get used to it." I glared at her as she continued laughing, but found myself laughing with her.

After lunch, we continued looking at the stores and we found one that sold knives. I walked in and looked around till I saw a set of five throwing knives. "Excuse me sir. How much is the set?" The owner looked at the set, then to me. "It's 5,250 cens, miss. (I am basing this off of online research that 100 cens is roughly 1$, so the price is around $52.50) I looked at them, but I didn't have the money for them. "We'll take em." Winry suddenly spoke and the man nodded. "Winry! What are you doing?" I whispered. She looked at me. "You can pay me back another day, Jess. I know why you want them." I sighed and pinched my nose. "Here you go, miss. Have a nice day." Winry paid for the knives and we left the store.

We walked back towards her shop and she turned to me. "About the 'pay me back', don't worry about it. Consider it my wedding present." she smiled as she spoke. I smiled back. "Thanks Winry." We got back to her shop and said our goodbyes. "We'll try to visit again soon Winry. Bye." I walked to the hotel and up to the room. "I'm back, honey." No answer. "Honey?" I entered the bedroom and saw him laying on the couch, in deep sleep. "Sigh. Freak." I mumbled. I set the bag with the knives on the floor, picked him up, and set him on the bed. I took a quick shower and layed down next to him, sleep quickly taking me.


	2. Sickness

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Sickness

Jess POV

I woke up as I felt my husband get out of bed. I tried to turn to him, but my stomach was killing me. I could hear it gurgling, and so did he, cause he turned to me. "You okay?" I held my stomach and moaned. "No. My stomach hurts. I must have had some bad food yesterday." My stomach then moved suddenly and I ran to the restroom to vomit. Drake came in behind me and rubbed my back. "Want me to get a doctor, babe?" I vomited again and shook my head. "No. Like I said, it's probably just something I ate. I'll be fine, dear." He pulled me hair out of my face and continued to rub my back.

"I think it's best if we stay here until you get better, babe. I'll go call Ed to let him know." I nodded and he left the room. I vomited again, and my stomach felt much better. "Wow. Whatever did that to me did a fine job." I mumbled. I stood up, flushed the toilet, and went to lay back down. I heard the door open and saw my husband walk up to me. "Feel any better, hon?" I nodded and took a breath. "Yeah. Whatever it was, it's gone now cause my stomach is already feeling better." He knelt down next to me and took my hand. "I told Ed that you weren't feeling well and that we would be leaving late. Right now their searching into some kind of new alchemy, or something."

"No, we can leave. I feel better, dear." I looked at him and saw a bit of worry in his eyes. "I'm fine. Promise. It's just something I ate." He shook his head. "No, we'll stay another day at least. Better safe than sorry. Besides, there's not much to do in Central right now. So relax while you can. I'll go get some soup and juice for you. Be right back." I moaned and nodded as he left the room again. I rolled onto my side and just layed there. About half an hour later, Drake came back with Winry following behind him. "Hey Jess. I heard you weren't felling well and came to check on you." she said.

I smiled at her. "Thanks, Winry. But I'm fine now. I think I just got some bad food or something yesterday." Winry walked over and placed her hand on my forehead. "Well, you don't have a fever. So that must have been it. If so, you'll be over it in a few hours. I'm sorry, but I have to go guys. I've got orders I have to take care of. I'll check on you again tonight Jess." I waved as she left the room. Drake sat me up and handed me my soup and juice. "Remember, eat it slow, okay?" I smiled and nodded. "Yes, yes. I know, freak." He reached over and flicked me on the forehead. "Damn wolf."

He walked over to the couch, sat down, and began to read a book. I finished my soup and juice, but my stomach started to churn again. I layed down to let it settle, and fell asleep. When I woke back up, my stomach was acting up again, so I ran back to the restroom and started vomiting again. I turned to see Drake passed out on the couch with his book in his lap. I decided not to wake him. I vomited again and sat there, waiting for my stomach to calm down. After about ten minuets it finally did, and I went back to the bed. I woke up again in the middle of the night to my stomach acting up. I saw my husband sitting in a chair next to me asleep. I quietly got up and tip-toed to the restroom a third time and vomited.

 _What in the hell is wrong with me? I'll have to go to a doctor when we get back to Central._ My stomach calmed down and I quietly got back in bed, I slept through the whole day, but I was tired as all get out. I immediately fell asleep. I was woken up by my husband shaking me. "Honey, you okay?" I yawned and sat up. My stomach was feeling funny, but I didn't need to vomit. "Yeah, I'm fine now. Can we leave today, please?" He looked at me, worried, but nodded. "If you're sure you're fine." I nodded and got changed. We grabbed our things and left for the train station.

"Here, honey. I got these for you." I handed him the bag with the knives in them. He chuckled. "Thank you, dear. I love them." He reached over and gave me a kiss. We boarded the train and Drake, again, fell asleep from reading. I looked out the window and watched the scenery go by. Suddenly, my stomach kicked again and I quietly ran to the restroom and vomited, yet again. _Yeah, I have to go see a doctor in Central._ I walked back to my seat and sat down. Now I was tired again. I leaned over against my husband and fell asleep.

"Honey. Honey, we're here." Drake shook me awake I saw that we were in Central. I yawned and stood up. We left the train and walked to the hotel. It was the middle of the night, so we decided to get a room and go back to sleep till morning. As soon as we entered the room, I showered, changed, and began to pass out on the bed. _Why am I so damn tired? Am I really that sick?_ I blacked out. I woke up to my husband getting out of bed and my stomach was churning yet again. "I'm off to catch the brothers in the library, hon. I'll be back later. I've left some money on the table in case you want to go out. Love you." He walked over and kissed me on the head. "Love you too, dear." He left the room and I immediately ran to the toilet and vomited.

"Yup. Definitely going to the doctors." I mumbled. I got changed, took the money Drake left me, and left the room. I hailed a cab and told the driver to take me to the hospital. That's when it hit me. I'm part wolf, and have ears and a tail. Cant really go there. Then I remembered the doctor that helped with Lan Fan. "Um, sir. Change of plans." We arrived at a two story house and I paid the driver. I walked up to the door and knocked. After a minuet, the door opened. "Yeah, who is it?" the man asked gruffly.

"Hello doctor Knox. I don't think you remember me, do you?" He looked me over. "Yeah. You're that wolf girl. What do you want?" I lowered my head. "I'm sorry to barge on you like this. But I've been really sick for tho past two days, and well...I can't exactly go to a hospital because of what I am. And your the only doctor I know who knows about me. Can you please help me?" He looked me over again, then moaned. "Yeah, sure. Come in." He stepped aside and let me in. As we walked through the house, I noticed that Lan Fan and that little girl were not there anymore. _I guess they_ _left._ We walked to one of the rooms and he told me to sit on the bed.

He spent about twenty minuets looking me over. "How many times have you vomited?" "Seven times now." He thought for a minuet. "And you say that your always tired?" I nodded. "Yes. Even if I wake up from sleeping for half the day, I'm still dead tired." He thought for a minuet, left the room, then came back with a syringe. "I need to take a blood sample. It's possible you may have blood poisoning. If that's the case, I'll get you some meds that will help it." He injected the needle into my arm and drew some blood. He gave me a piece of sterile cotton to put over the site.

"I have to go to the hospital to do the test. I'll be back in a couple of hours. Wait here, and rest." I nodded and he left. I kicked my shoes off and layed down on the bed. _Blood poisoning? How could I have got that?_ I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I was woken back up by doctor Knox gently shaking me. "Hey, wake up girl." he said in a low tone. I yawned then sat up. "Well." He huffed at me. "Well, what?" I looked at him confused. "Uh….what is wrong with me?" He huffed again. "Nothing. You're just fine." Now I was even more confused. "Just fine? How so?"

"In other words, there's nothing wrong with you. Your body is supposed to act this way. Didn't you know?" he asked sternly. I face palmed. "Know what?" Now he was a little confused. "You mean to tell me that you didn't know?" Now I was starting to get mad, but I held my anger. "No. I didn't know. Whatever it was that I am supposed to know." Knox just stared at me surprised. "Are you screwing with me?" Now I couldn't my anger back anymore. "No! What in the hell is wrong with me!?" He just shook his head at me. "You're three months pregnant you idiot!" I froze as a chill ran down my spine then back up. "What…...what…..did you say?" He face palmed. "I said you're three months pregnant idiot!"

I couldn't move or breath. _Pregnant!? I'm….pregnant!? There is no way! I can't be….pregnant!_ "Are….are you sure?" He shook his head again. "Yes. The blood test confirmed it. Not only that, you're carrying twins." _Twins!? I'm pregnant and carrying twins!? He has to be screwing with me!_ "How the hell could you not know? The mourning sickness from two months ago should have given it away." I was too shocked to say anything. He looked really confused now. "You didn't have mourning sickness?" I shook my head and he pinched his nose. "Well, the blood test confirmed that you're pregnant, and that your carrying twins. The fact of you always being tired gives it away too."

"I'm….pregnant?" Tears came flowing to my eyes as I placed my hand on my stomach. I lowered my head. "Thank you….doctor Knox." I stood up and left his house. I hailed a cab and told the driver to take me back to the hotel. I got back and walked up to the room. I stood in front of the restroom mirror and lifted my shirt, exposing my still flat stomach. _I'm...going to be...a mom? And Drake….a dad? We...we have….a family? We're going to have….a family!?_ Tears flowed from my face as I sat on the floor and cried. "What...will he...do? Will he be….mad? Or….will he be….happy?" I asked myself.

I heard the room door open and close. "Honey, I'm back." I froze. _How do I tell him!? What will he do!? What will he say!?_ I cried even more as he spoke again. "Honey? You here?" I sat there shaking. "I'm….I'm in here." I heard his foot steps get louder and he knocked on the restroom door. "Honey, you okay?" I stood up, turned to the door, and slowly opened it with my head lowered. "Honey?" He placed his hands on my shoulders. I just kept crying. "What is it?" I slowing raised my head to meet my eyes with his, tears still flowing from them. "Honey? What is it?" I sniffed and grabbed him in a hug. He twitched in confusion. "Uh, Jess?" I didn't say anything for a minuet, then, I finally found the courage to speak. "I'm…..pregnant."


	3. The News

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

The News

Drake POV

I returned to the room after talking with the brothers. The girl they wanted to talk to had taken off and they couldn't find her. They decided to research the new alchemy stuff in the library. Something inside told me to go check on my wife, so I told them I would catch them tomorrow. I walked up to the room and opened the door. "Honey, I'm back." No answer. I looked into the bedroom, but didn't see her. "Honey? You here?" After a brief silence, I heard her from the restroom. "I'm….I'm in here." I walked over and knocked on the door. "Honey, you okay?"

I heard a small noise and the door opened. Jess had her head lowered and she had tears in her eyes. "Honey?" I asked as I placed my hands on her shoulders. She started to cry. "What is it?" I asked her again and she raised her head up to me. Tears were flowing from her eyes and I was getting worried. "Honey? What is it?" I asked a little sternly. She suddenly grabbed me into a hug and now I was confused. "Uh, Jess?" She was crying into my shoulder and didn't say anything. "I'm…..pregnant." I froze. Sweat started to drip from my forehead.

"What….did you say?" She gripped me tighter. "I'm pregnant." I froze again. _She's…..pregnant!? Is she really….pregnant!?_ "What do you mean….pregnant?" I dumbly asked. She cried even harder. "I'm pregnant, Drake. I'm with a child." she said as she dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands. I just stood there, too shocked to move. Finally, I dropped to my knees as well. I sat there for a minuet, trying to process what she just told me. I lowered my head and sighed. "How far?" At first, she didn't say anything, until she finally answered. "Three months, at least." I looked at her surprised. "Three months!?"

She slowly nodded. "Yes. Please…...don't hate me…..please." Now she was really crying. I sighed and lifted her chin with my hand. I looked at her with tears pouring out my eyes. "How can I hate or be mad at you? This was sudden, and not really planned, but it's the greatest news ever." She stopped crying and stared at me with wide eyes. "You're…...you're not….mad?" I shook my head and kissed her. "No. I'm very happy." Her tears got worse as she clenched her teeth and kissed me. She let go and held me as tight as she could, nearly choking me with her inhuman strength. "Thank you, Drake! Thank you!" she cried into my shoulder.

We sat there holding each other, hoping to never let go. _I'm going to be a father. And_ _s_ _he's going to be a mother. We're going to have…..a family. Together._ We let each other go and stared into each others eyes, smiling. "How did you find out?" I asked as she sniffed. "Doctor Knox told me. He gave me a blood test, and that confirmed it." I sighed then chuckled. "I'm gonna have to thank the old man." I said as I lowered my head, tears still falling. But Jess lifted my head up again. "And that's not all he told me." I looked at her confused. "What do you mean?" She didn't answer. She just held up two fingers and smiled. "I'm carrying twins." I froze again. "Tw...twi...twins!?"

My tears stopped a second as she nodded. _Twins!? She carrying twins!?_ I couldn't move, I was just way too shocked. "You're...really carrying….twins?" She nodded again and my tears started flowing again. I grabbed her firmly and kissed her again. We broke away and grabbed each other in another tight hug. We sat there for a long time, then decided to move to the couch. We sat in silence, just holding each other with tears in our eyes. "Drake." I kissed her head. "Yes, love?" She backed away and looked at me. "You're not gonna keep me from going with you guys, are you?" I looked at her, then turned my gaze to her stomach. I placed my hand on it and sighed. "In truth, I don't want you too." Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but I stopped her.

"But….I promised that I would trust you. I have to trust you." I grabbed her chin with my hand and stared into her eyes. "Can I trust you….to protect our children? Can I trust you?" Tears came to her eyes again and she nodded. "Yes, you can. I am a wolf after all. It's my instinct to. Will you let me go with you?" I let her face go and sighed. "As long as you stay safe, you can go. But please…..don't be careless. These are our children Jess, we owe it to them." She grabbed my face and kissed me yet again.

"I'm aware of that. I'll be careful. Promise." We hugged again and sat there. "Should we tell the brothers?" Jess asked and I chuckled. "I will never hear the end of it from Ed. But yeah. Lets go call them and get them here." We got up, left the room, and made the call. After about and hour, we heard a knock on our door. "Come in." The door opened and the brothers walked in. "Hey guys. What's going on?" Ed asked. I gestured for them to sit, and they did. "Well, there's no way around it, so I'll just say it flat out." Me and Jess looked at each other, then back at the brothers, who had confused looks on them.

"Jess is pregnant." No one moved an inch for the first moment. Then Eds jaw dropped and Al stared at Jess. "Pregnant!?" Al asked and we both nodded. Ed face palmed. "Couldn't keep your hands off her could you?" Ed said snickering. Me and Jess both shook our heads. "Well that's just great. Now we're gonna have a puppy running around." "Two." Jess interrupted, and Ed stared at her. "Two!?" We both nodded again as Ed face palmed again. "Congratulations, Jess! Drake!" Al spoke. "Yeah, congrats. Now we have an entire wolf pack to deal with."

I could see Jess was a little annoyed at Ed for making fun of her. She kept twitching. "Ed, I would stop making fun of her if I were you." I warned. He looked at me confused. "Don't forget what she did to you at Izumis place. And now that she is pregnant, she's a whole lot more temperamental." Ed twitched and immediately shut up. "Wait, you don't mean she's coming with us, do you?" Ed asked. We both nodded. "She's coming Ed, and no one can stop her, not even me." Ed face palmed again and moaned. "Great. This is going to be one hell of a trip. A freak, a wolf and a litter. Perfect." Me and Jess both twitched and Al stepped away. He knew what was coming. "Jess." Ed froze as I pointed at him. "Kill."

She jumped on him so fast he couldn't run away. She started clawing at him, tearing up his shirt. "Noooo! Get her off! I'm sorry!" Me and Al started laughing. "Okay Jess, let him go." She got off him and sat back down next to me. "Learned your lesson yet brother?" Al asked. "Shut up, Al!" Ed yelled. We all, except for Ed, started laughing. "Well, whats the plan, Ed?" Jess asked as he sat back down. "Well, before you called me, I ran into Major Armstrong. He said that reports say the girl went north. So that's where we're going. He also said that we need to see an officer there. Her name is General Olivier Armstrong, his sister. She commands a place called Fort Briggs on the country border. We need to see her first."

I frowned. "Let me guess, it's cold up there?" Ed nodded as I moaned and Jess smiled. "Finally, a climate that I prefer." Jess said a little too happy. "Fine. When do we leave?" Ed thought for a minuet. "Well, we were planing on leaving tomorrow. It's a day and a half train ride to North City. Then a day ride by cart to the fort." Me and Jess both moaned. "A day and a half, on the train? Perfect." Jess complained. "When does the train leave?" I asked. "At eleven in the morning. We can catch a late breakfast, then head to the station." I thought about it then nodded. "Alright then. We'll meet up at the restaurant out front at nine. That lets us sleep in a little before we leave. We'll see you in the morning guys." Ed and Al stood up and both gave Jess a hug and shook my hand. "Yup, see you then. And congrats on the pups." I twitched and Jess chuckled.

After they left, I turned to Jess. "You know, he does somewhat have a point." She turned to me. "What do you mean, dear?" I placed my hand on her stomach. "What if they do come out as wolves, or like you, part wolf?" She thought about it a minuet. "I don't care. Their our children, regardless of what they look like when they get here. I'll still love them no matter what." I smiled and leaned over to kiss her. "Me too." I kissed and hugged her. "Should we tell Winry?" Jess asked. I thought about it, then shook my head. "No. Something like this deserves to be said in person. We'll wait till we see her again."

"I agree honey. And thank you." I looked at her puzzled. "For?" She grabbed my hand and placed it on her stomach. "For everything." Tears came to my eyes as I held her tightly. "No, thank you. You've made my life perfect. Just…...perfect." She reached up and kissed me as we sat there thinking about our future family. _Mom, dad, whoever you are, you don't have to worry. I'm happy. Happy….with my family._ Neither of us moved for a while. Finally, Jess got up and went to the kitchen area and took the stomach medicine that doctor Knox had given her to help with the vomiting. "You ready for bed, hon?" she asked.

"Yeah. We got a long trip tomorrow, with our family." She smiled, walked over and yet again kissed me. "I love you, freak." I kissed her back. "And I love you, wolf." We got changed and went to bed. She grabbed my hand and placed it over her stomach. "We're going to be a family." I leaned over and kissed her once more. "Yes, we are." We both layed there, until sleep took us both. SNORE! I face palmed. "Damn wolf."


	4. The Trip North

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

The Trip North

Jess POV

I woke up to my husband throwing a pillow at me. "Oh my god! Shut up!" he yelled. I grabbed the pillow and hit him back. "What the hell was that for!?" He started at me with bags under his eyes. "Your damn snoring! It's driving me nuts!" He took the pillow and buried his face under it. "Well sorry! I can't help it! Whatever. I'm going to take a shower." I got up, grabbed my clothes, and walked to the restroom. I turned the water on to let it heat up and looked in the mirror. My hair came undone in my sleep, so I would have to tie it up again.

I let out a sigh as my thoughts ran through yesterdays events. I just couldn't believe that I was pregnant, with two children. A wide smile came to my face as I rubbed my stomach. I stepped into the shower, and as I did, Drake opened the door and stepped in with me. "Hey! I was here first!" He glared at me. "True, but you kept me up all damn night with that snoring. So leave me alone." I growled and smacked his head. "I told you, it's not my fault. I can't help it." He turned to me and grabbed my chin.

"And another thing. After the kids are born, if I wake up to 'howling' in the middle of the night, you're sleeping in the yard." I looked at him with wide eyes. "You wouldn't!" He smirked at me and kissed me. "Wait and see, wolf. Wait and see." I slapped him and then kissed him. "You're mean, freak." We both started laughing and got out of the shower. We got changed and left the room to meet with the brothers. "Morning guys. Sleep well?" Al asked and Drake turned to me. "Oh yeah. Just swell." he said with an agitated look. "Uh, I'll take that as a no." Al stated as Drake turned to him. "Oh really? How did you guess?"

We sat down at the table in front of the restaurant and ordered our food. "Jess." Ed started and I turned to him. "Yes?" Ed was staring at me with a serious look. "I have to ask, and I need the truth, Jess. Are you really sure you want to take the risk of coming with us while being pregnant? You know that trouble has a habit of finding us." I gave a heavy nod. "Yes. I'm sure. I'll follow you guys until the pregnancy gets in the way. Then I'll go stay with granny until the birth. But until then, you're all stuck with me." Drake chuckled as Ed face palmed. "Damn wolf." Ed moaned as I chuckled too.

We ate our breakfast and walked to the station. We got lucky because the train had arrived early, so we could go ahead and board it. After a while, the train left the station and we were on our way north. We all decided to play cards with each other. We decided on no stakes poker, but for some reason, Ed was always winning. Drake and Al were getting upset, but I just watched every move he made. I finally caught him slip something out of his sleeve and into his hand. When he reached over to grab a card, I grabbed his hand. "Jess, what are you doing?" Drake asked as I pulled Eds sleeve back. When I did, a handful of aces and face cards fell onto the table. "Ha! Caught you! Cheater!"

Everyone stared at Ed with anger filled eyes. We all, at the same time, pounded our fists on Eds head. "OW! That hurt!" I stuck my tongue out at him. "Guess that will teach you to cheat at cards, cheater!" Drake, Al, and I continued to play, Ed was banned. Now the game was fun. As it turned out, Drake was pretty good at this game. "So Drake, Jess." Al started and we both looked at him. "Have you thought on any names for the babies yet?" Me and Drake looked at each other then back. "Uh...no?" Drake said and I sat back into the bench. "We really haven't talked about it. Would you guys like to help?" I asked. Al lit up and Ed turned to us. "Well, it would help if we knew whether they were boys or girls." Ed stated.

"Yeah, that is true. So how about this, lets work on boys names first, then girls." I answered and they all nodded in agreement. "How about, Justin?" Al started. "Jonathon?" Ed added. "Chris." Drake finished. "Hmm, I like Henry. But I do like Justin. So how about those two?" I asked and Drake thought for a minuet. "I agree with Justin, but I'm not that fond of Henry. What about Mathew?" I liked it. "Perfect. So if their boys, we'll go with Justin and Mathew." We all nodded. "Now the girls." Drake stated. I looked at Ed and he nodded. I turned back to Drake. "I think we should name them Elizebeth and Sarah, after your sisters." Drake turned to me and rose his brow.

"I have sisters?" Me and Ed froze for a moment, then we lowered our heads and tears came to my eyes. "You….really don't….remember. Do you?" I asked. Drake turned to the window. "No. It's all gone, everything." I grabbed his arm and held tight while Ed stood up and took a walk through the train. "I'm sorry, dear. I shouldn't have brought it up." He sighed. "No. I'm glad you did. I may not remember them, but at least I can remember their names, through our kids." He turned to me and kissed my cheek. "Elizebeth and Sarah it is." He smiled and we kissed again. Ed finally came back.

"I heard. I'm happy for you Drake. Really, I am." Ed stated as he sat down. "Thanks Ed. So, tell me about them. My family." We looked at him, then to each other, then back. I smiled. "Okay." We told him all about his world and family, from what he had told us before, and that they would be proud of him. "Wow. It sounds like my mom would kill me for marring a wolf. I wonder how I fell in love with you." He was smirking at me and I punched him in the chest. "Why do you have to be so mean!?" He laughed. "Cause you're my wife. It's part of the job." He laughed again as I started beating on his chest. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you!" He laughed even more.

"But you still love me, wolf." I growled, grabbed his face, and kissed him. "Too much for my own good." Now everyone was laughing. We finally got to North City and as we stepped out of the station, all we could see was a white, powdery substance on the ground. "What is that?" I asked and they all stared at me. "Oh, sorry. I forgot you were stuck in that lab, hon. It's snow." Ed then grabbed a snow ball and threw it at me, hitting me in the face. I shook it off and stared at Ed. I looked at Drake. "Kill?" He shook his head then pointed at Ed, who began to run. "No. Maim!" I nodded and chased after Ed, picking up snow balls as I ran, throwing them at Ed.

"Come back, Ed. I was ordered to hurt you, not kill you!" Poor Ed. He should have known that you can't outrun a wolf. I caught him and shoved a snow ball in his face. "No! Stop! Get off!" I got off him as Drake and Al caught up to us, both laughing. "Alright, enough playing around. We need to get to Fort Briggs." We found a man with a cart who just happened to be going that way, so we got a ride with him. Ed and Drake were starting to shiver, but I was enjoying myself. I loved the cold. Drake didn't have gloves, so I let him use my tail to keep his hands warm. "Thanks, honey." I smiled and kissed him.

The wagon trip was a long one, but we finally got to the path that led to Fort Briggs. We hopped off and grabbed our bags. "Hey, you in the armor." the driver started, looking at Al. We turned to him. "That's not automail is it?" We all looked at each other then back to him. "Uh, no." Al answered. "Oh, okay. Then you should be fine." We watched him as he left, "What was that about?" Drake asked. We all shrugged our shoulders. "Beats me. Well, lets get going." Ed stated. We began walking up the trail, and after about an hour, a blizzard hit us. I loved the cold, but it was a little too cold now. I took my shirt off and changed forms. Now that I had fur, I was perfectly comfortable. Drake and Ed turned to me. "Cheater!" they spoke in unison. "Hey, being a wolf has it's perks." The both moaned and we walked on. "It's hard to believe that teacher survived out here for a whole month." Ed stated. Me and Drake turned to him. "You mean Izumi!? She was out here for a damn month!? I call bullshit!" Drake yelled above the weather. "Yeah, she even killed a bear." Al turned to him. "The bears around here are more than fifteen feet tall!"

Me and Drake were stunned. "You mean we're out here with fifteen foot bears!?" Drake yelled again. "Yeah! She lied to you Ed! There is no way in hell that woman killed a fifteen foot bear!" I yelled. Ed turned to me. "Oh yeah? You try fighting her and you would think differently! I believe everything she said." Ed snapped back. "Oh really? So if Jess kicked your ass again, and said she was a homunculus, then you would believe her?" Drake demanded. Ed face palmed. "No you idiot! I'm just saying that with how trained teacher is, I have no choice but to believe her!" Me and Drake moaned. "Great Ed. Just great! You lead us out to the middle of nowhere, with fifteen foot tall bears running around, and you decided to believe some hoax story by a 'five' foot 'woman', that she killed one of these bears. If she killed one of these bears, they have to be the size of a hamster!" I yelled.

 **FOOM!**

We heard a loud footstep in the snow behind us. "Oh no. Please don't tell me that's. what I think it is." Drake stated. We all slowly turned around to see a very, very, very large figure standing right behind us.

"BEAR!"


	5. Fort Briggs

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Fort Briggs

Drake POV

We all heard a loud thump in the snow from someone walking up behinds us. "Oh no. Please don't tell me that's, what I think it is." We all turned to see a humungous figure towering over us. "BEAR!" We all yelled in unison. Ed made his automail blade and I drew my sword. The bear raised it's hand up high and when we looked up, we saw it was….metal? We jumped away to avoid being hit as it swung down hard on the ground. "What the hell is that!?" I yelled as we landed. "That's no bear!" Ed stated. The creature turned and 'shot' something that opened up to a net that caught Al and Jess, pinning them to the ground.

"Al!" "Jess!" Me and Ed yelled in unison. The creature stepped forward and we saw it was a very large man with a mohawk. He was wearing a military uniform and had a very large automail arm. "Wait a minuet. Ed, he's wearing a military uniform!" Ed was slightly shocked. "Huh, well it looks like some pretty mediocre stuff, but you have automail too, huh?" the man asked. "What? Mediocre? Just because ours ain't tacky like yours?" Ed retorted as the man showed us his arm. "Fool. Obviously you two don't know a good weapon when you see one. This right here is combat automail model M1913A, the Crocodile. Now surrender peacefully you Drachman spies, or I'll show you exactly what this baby can do!"

"You think we're spies!? Are you a freaking idiot!? We're State.." I was interupted by the man charging at us. We jumped back as he swung at us again. But….something was wrong. My legs were starting to freeze up, and my stumps were hurting like hell. Ed was having problems too, cause his arm wasn't working right either. The man charged again and caught Eds arm in his arms 'jaw', then swung him down to the ground. "Ed!" I tried to move, but I couldn't stand up. My legs just stopped working.

I watched as the man pulled on some kind of cable on his arm, starting a motor or something on it. The teeth on the inside of the 'jaw' then began to cut into Eds arm. I tried to move again, but my legs just wouldn't move. Ed tried to use alchemy to destroy the mans arm, but it didn't work for some reason. Then an idea hit me. I pulled one of my knives from under my bracer and threw it at the mans arm. The blade hit between the teeth and the lower jaw, jamming the saw. When it did, the jaw was forced open, allowing Ed to get free. Using her claws, Jess managed to get through the net and free Al and herself. Al walked over to Ed, while Jess ran and knelt next to me.

"That wasn't too bad kids, especially with that ordinary automail you two have. But it's all over now." Suddenly, multiple troops popped up out of the snow, weapons aimed right at our heads. We all put our hands up in surrender. "This is getting old." Ed stated. "Yeah, you're telling me." Jess retorted. The blizzard started to clear up and as we looked, we could see a metal wall. A metal wall that had to be at least two to three hundred feet high! "Buccaneer, who are they!?" we heard a strange voice demand.

The large man turned to the voice and placed his hands behind his back. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there, General Armstrong. I apologize for the disturbance." We looked up to see a woman standing on a balcony, holding a sword. I thought General Armstrong was supposed to be Alex's sister, but she looked absolutely NOTHING like Alex! "I'll ask again, who are you!?" she demanded. "I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric." Ed answered. "And I'm the Blade Alchemist, Drake Ganters." I followed. "Major Armstrong from Central Command sent us here to meet with the commander of this post.." Ed finished. There was a brief silence.

"Search them!" She demanded. The men searched us and I noticed that some were about to shoot Jess, who was still in wolf form. "You! Stand down!" I yelled at him. The woman above us was shocked. "Who the hell do you think you are, telling MY men what to do!?" the General yelled. I pulled out the protection paper. "This is a written order by the Fuhrer himself! That chimera is under MY protection! When it comes to her safety, MY orders are ABOVE yours, General! These are orders from the Fuhrer!" She glared at me with a look that would kill anyone else. "I don't think you would be so foolish as to disobey the Fuhrer now, would you?" I stared back.

There was a long silence. "Very well. Leave her be! You may enter, State Alchemists." She turned away from us and walked inside. I couldn't stand up because of my legs, so Jess had to pick me up and carry me. We stepped up to the door and walked in. When we did, Jess went back to her human form and I gave her the shirt back. My legs were starting to work again so Jess just held my arm around her shoulder as we walked. We walked through multiple corridors until we came to the medical room. "All of you go see the doc." The mowhawk guy, I think it was Buccaneer, spoke.

We entered the medical room and the female doctor told us to strip and sit down. Me and Ed undressed down to our boxers and sat on the chairs. The doctor put a bowl of hot water between us and soaked up some cloths in the water. She then placed them on Eds ports, and mine. I tried to move my legs, and they were working fine now.

"So, what the hell happened? Why did my legs just stop working? Eds arm too." Jess walked over and sat on the floor next to me. "You were suffering from exposure." the doctor answered. "Exposure?" Ed inquired. "Yeah. You two were lucky. You came close to getting frost bite." I face palmed. "Pulled a blank on that one." I commented. "The flesh that's touching your automail will freeze in the cold here. As for you." She pointed at me. "You need to oil your automail as well, or it will stiffen." I sighed. "Guess that explains why they froze up."

"So, that Buccaneer guy. Does he have a different automail than us?" Just then, the door opened and Buccaneer walked in. "Hey doc, I need this arm repaired. That damn knife caused the chain to jam." He looked at me. "Thanks to you." I smirked. "Glad to help." I could see the fury in his eyes. "Over here, sir. I'll get you switched out and start working on it." another doctor spoke. Buccaneer followed him into a back room while the female doctor continued. "His automail is designed for the cold. It needs to flexible, and lightweight. After some testing, we found an alloy that works."

She describes to us about the different metals used in the automail. Unlike regular automail that is iron based, theirs was carbon fiber based. "Well, I guess that explains why your alchemy didn't work Ed. We both thought it was iron." Buccaneer then walked back out, complaining to her about giving us too much info. The doctor then told him that we had a right to know, being State Alchemists and all. Me and Ed both showed him our watches.

"If you plan to be in the north for a while, you should switch out your automail. Do you have a mechanic?" She poured some coffee in a couple of mugs. "Yeah, but she's in Rush Valley. And we didn't exactly tell her we were coming up here." Ed answered. The doctor walked up and gave all three of us a cup of coffee. "I would send for her. That is, if you plan to stay alive." Me and Ed looked at each other. "Fine." he moaned. Ed took a sip of coffee as I blew on mine. "That'll be a hundred cens." the doctor told Ed, who spit it out. He paid her and moaned. Me and Jess set ours down.

"A hundred cens for a cup of coffee, no thanks." Jess spoke up. "This place is crazy! What is with you people, and that damn General!?" Ed yelled. Then the door opened and there stood the General. "Hello, little red runt." she stated. Me and Jess snickered as Ed gave a look of depression. "If you have something to say, then now is the time to speak up." She turned to the doctor. "I'll be using your office for a moment." The doctor nodded and the General entered it. "Come with me." she ordered and we followed.

She sat down in the chair, sword at her side. We had a brief conversation about Alex, her brother. I could tell that she just despised him. "Forget him. Now tell me why you bypassed the command center to meet me." She pointed at Al. "And why your armor is empty." then to me and Jess. "And finally, how it is you two are married to each other." Me and Jess gasped in shock. "How the hell did you know!?" I demanded. She pointed her sheathed sword at my chest.

"I saw your ring around your neck." she pointed at Jess. "And yours while you were a wolf, or whatever. I am not a fool." Me and Jess looked at each other then back to her. "Yes. We are married. However, that is no concern of yours and has nothing to do with why we are here." I stated. She lowered her sword back to her side. "True. And what about you." she asked, looking at Al. Ed and Al then explained about trying to get their bodies back, but left out the details about the homunculi and 'Father'.

The General told us that she wanted us to leave, but she wanted to learn about this new alchemy so she could use it for war. Ed and Al tried to object, but she told them to basically shut up. She stood up and walked to the door. "Major Miles. Put them to work. And you two." She pointed at me and Jess. "Come with me." We followed her down some hallways and into her office. "Sit." she ordered and we both sat down in front of her desk. "Now. Tell me what happened to her." she stated, pointing at Jess. We looked at each other, then back to her as Jess told her everything that had happened in the lab.

I had never asked her about it, but after hearing all they did to her, I about cried. "I see. So your a victim of illegal experiments. So now tell me. Why did you two decide to marry? Is it not odd for you to marry a….chimera?" I could see that Jess was getting very mad, so I placed my hand on her shoulder to calm her down. I let out a sigh. "Because it's just like any other human. We married because we love each other. I don't care if she is part wolf, I still love her. And you have no right to step in." I flatly stated. The General just stared at us.

"I understand. I don't approve of what they did to her no more than you do. But regardless, she is still a chimera. You'll understand if we keep a close watch on her." I was upset at that, but taking into consideration of what they do here, I understood. "I understand. And I don't want to get in anyone's way. As long as they leave her alone, there won't be any trouble." She gave a very slight smirk, "Agreed."


	6. Intruder

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Intruder

Drake POV

As we continued talking about Jess, the Buccaneer guy and a guy with gray hair and sunglasses walked in. "General, a moment please?" the guy with glasses spoke. "Of course. Blade alchemist, this is Major Miles. And you already know Captain Buccaneer." I stood up and shook his hand. He had a very stern look on his face. "Pleasure." He turned to the General. "Sir, I've received reports on a train accident not far from here. Kimbley was on that train." She looked at him slightly surprised. "Kimbley? The Crimson Alchemist?" Miles nodded. "He was severely wounded while on his way here. They have him checked in at a hospital at the base of the mountain. He was conducting a search, and the full cooperation of the Briggs branch has been requested."

"And why was Kimbley coming here? I thought he was serving time in prison." Miles nodded again. "He was released, on the Fuhrers orders." Me and Jess looked at each other, knowing something was up. The General noticed. Suddenly, alarms started going off. "What is it!?" she asked the radio man sitting a little ways away from us. "We've got an intruder, sir! From under the ground!" The General stood up. "Where!?" "The lower level, sir!" The General looked at me and Jess. "Come with me you two! Buccaneer, go handle the situation!" We nodded and followed her out of the office.

We walked down a hallway and the General suddenly stopped and drew her sword, holding it to my neck. "So, you've brought friends have you?" I held my hands up in surrender. "I don't even know what the hell is going on! How about you stop this nonsense! You know I'm a State Alchemist, so I'm obviously not with whoever it is that's attacking you!" She looked into my eyes and I into hers. After a minuet, she sheathed the sword. "I still don't trust you, but you may be of use to me. Come!" We walked down the hall and she grabbed a large rocket launcher from a weapons room. We walked into an elevator and took it down to what the button said 'R/D'.

When the door opened, we could all see a large human shaped figure standing at the back of the room below us. We saw some people move to attack the creature, but the General told them not to move as she aimed the launcher and fired. The rocket sailed towards him and hit him dead on. He erupted in a ball of fire. "Nice shot, General." I commented as she turned to a soldier standing next to us. "Put it out." The man saluted and ran off. We looked back and watched as the fire and smoke disappeared and the creature was still standing there, then walk forward. "I know that I hit it." she said and I turned to her. "You did, I watched it hit." I added. "It's no use! Guns don't work on him!" Buccaneer yelled to us.

"What!?" I turned to her. "Sir, I think it would be a good idea if you turned the alarm off. Whatever that thing is, if he brought friends along, I don't think it's a good idea that they figure out that we're in trouble here." She nodded and told a soldier to do so. She started walking down the stairs to the ground level. "Jess, I'm going to help the General, you give the boys a hand." She nodded and jumped off the railing, changing forms in mid air. We got down to the bottom of the stairs and I saw three tanks sitting there. "General, we have tanks!" an elder officer yelled out. "Are trials finished?" the General asked and the man chuckled. "Trials? We don't need them. These are the development teams' pride and joy!"

The General hopped into one and I hopped into another. I don't know why, but it just seemed….second nature to me. Like I knew exactly what I was doing. The General was watching me closely. "General, I get on his left flank!" I yelled and she nodded. "Driver, lets move!" The tank started rolling and we pushed to about fifty feet to the Generals left. "Fire!" I heard the General yell. Her tanks gun went off and the round hit him in the face. I watched in aw as the creature just took it and healed. _He's a homunculus!? What the hell is he doing here!?_ "Fire!" I yelled and my tanks gun went off, hitting him in the gut. But his stomach caught it and he just grabbed it and threw it away.

"All tanks, FIRE!" she yelled and all three tanks began firing at will at this thing, all of the rounds just bouncing off him. "Ouch. Right back….to work. Dig...a hole." it spoke and threw a bunch of debris at some workers. But Ed used alchemy to make a wall and stop it. The General stared at him as he ran up to her. "It wont work! Try whatever you want to, but he wont die!"

"He's right General. Look at what we just hit him with, yet he's still standing." I added. Buccaneer walked up. "Just what are you saying? And how would a kid like you know about that?" Ed didn't answer at first. After a very brief discussion, I saw the wheels in the Generals head turn. "Buccaneer, bring me some tank fuel! We're going to douse it!" she ordered. Ed was getting upset. "I told you, General! It wont work! Set him on fire, but he still wont die!" Ed yelled. "I know that. I realized from our first attack that we can't kill it. So we'll stop it, by hitting it with something even stronger than fire."

Buccaneer took the brothers and Jess, grabbed as much fuel as they could carry, and walked up the stairs. "Buccaneer, head for gate eight!" Miles yelled. The General turned to the monster. "Now, how the hell are we going to get that thing inside the elevator?" she asked herself. I thought about it for a minuet, then an idea came to mind. "Driver, ram that damn thing! Push it into the elevator!" I turned to her. "General, get out of the way!" She turned to me, then moved her tank back.

My tank charged at full speed, right into the monster pushing him back. But he was a little too strong. He managed to stop the tank and was trying to lift the front up. I turned back to the General. "Sir! Push us!" She nodded and rammed her tank, as well as the other one, into the rear of mine. The combined power of all three tanks was slowly pushing him into the elevator. "FIRE!" I yelled as my tanks gun went off, the round hitting the monster in the face and throwing him into the elevator.

"Do it Miles! Close it!" she yelled as he pushed the buttons, sending the elevator up. I moved my tank back, jumped off, and climbed onto the Generals. "What now, sir?" She looked at me. "Wait and see, alchemist. Wait and see." After about five minuets, the elevator came back. "Hold on!" she yelled at me as she drove the tank into the elevator and we went up. When the doors opened, we saw the monster sitting in the hallway in front of a large metal door. "FIRE!" The gun went off again and threw the monster into the door, breaking it open.

It stopped about a foot from the edge. "Sir, we're out of ammo!" the crewman yelled. I saw the man standing next to me pull a gun. I didn't know who he was, but I know I've seen him somewhere before. "Well in that case." He fired two rounds, hitting the icicles hanging above the monsters head. They landed on his head and he leaned back as Ed and Al jumped up and kicked him over. Me and the General got off the tank and walked over to the railing.

"That fuel is specially blended for the cold. I will vaporize almost instantly, and as it evaporates, it saps his body heat." Buccaneer explained. "Ah I get it now. So it basically freezes him like an ice cube, huh?" I asked and he nodded. "This blizzard with help too. It'll freeze him, right down to the brain." We all watched as the monster fell over onto the ground. "You can sleep there until spring, monster." the General commented. Jess walked over to me and kissed my cheek. "Well, that was fun. But lets not do that again." she joked. I chuckled. "Alright, Buccaneer. Take them all away!" We were all shocked.

"You're telling me that after the help we gave you, you're going to lock us up?" I yelled and she turned to me. "You were forced to! That was the excuse you needed to fight, right? And besides, you're not going anywhere until you tell me everything about that monster! And you," she turned to Jess. "Give us any trouble, and we will shoot you! Understood!?" Jess growled, but nodded and changed back. We were all taken away back inside the building. They took us to some cells, and put Ed and Al in one, me and Jess in another. The guard walked in and put all our hands in some restraints, then left.

"Well, so much for that." I bluntly stated. "So what do we do now, brother?" Al asked and Ed sighed. "Nothing we can do right now. Lets try and get some sleep. We'll worry about it in the morning." I heard Ed lay down and Al sit on the bed. "Well, I'm not really tired. I wish there was something to do." Jess complained. I heard Al take his 'head' off, then put it back on. He reached around the wall separating the cells holding a book. "Here, Jess. I'm sorry, but all I have are books on alchemy." Jess smiled and took the book. "It's okay Al. I'm actually studying up on it some."

"Really? Have you tried to use alchemy yet?" Jess chuckled. "No, not yet. Really haven't had the time. I've been busy with...other matters. If you know what I mean." I heard Al chuckle. "Of course." Jess walked over and sat down next to me. I noticed that she wasn't wearing her shirt, so I pulled of my coat and gave it to her. "Here, hon." She looked at me and smirked. "No need." She then changed forms again. "Now I'm good. This fur really helps." I chuckled. "Damn cheating wolf." I put my coat back on, but was still cold. She must have seen me shiver, cause she pulled me to her side, using her fur to keep me warm.

"I guess your right." I stated and she looked at me. I looked at her. "Being a wolf does have its perks." She smiled and tapped my head with the book. "Mean freak." I chuckled. "Ugly wolf." She twitched and slammed the book on my head. "Ow." I cried and she huffed. "Call me ugly." I laughed quietly and she did too. I layed next to her and slowly fell asleep.


	7. The Truth Discovered

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

The Truth Discovered

Jess POV

I woke up to find that I had fallen asleep while reading. I guess I really was tired, and still am. Yesterdays events really took my energy away. I looked down to find my husband sleeping on my lap, but he was having a nightmare, cause he was gripping my pants leg with a death grip. "Honey." I tried to gently shake him awake, but to no avail. "Honey, wake up. You're having a bad dream." I tried shaking him harder, but he still wouldn't wake up. Suddenly he shot up and stared around the room, breathing frantically.

"Honey, it's okay. You're fine now." I grabbed him in a hug and held him until he finally calmed down. "Sorry, hon. Bad dream." He kissed my cheek and leaned against the wall. "Wanna talk about it?" He looked at the ceiling and sighed. "No. I'm fine, hon." I looked at him with a worried look, but let it go. The room door opened and Neil, the male doctor, walked in. "Hey everyone. Sleep well?" He stopped when he saw Jess, still in wolf form. He looked at her shocked. "Oh, sorry bout that. I was getting cold. I guess you can see that I'm a chimera." Neil looked for a second longer, then shook his head. "Yeah, I heard. It's just different to see one up close." I chuckled. "Yeah. Try traveling with one." Drake stated and I smacked his head. "Ow! Damn it Jess!" He hollered.

Neil just chuckled and handed Ed a cup of coffee. Me and Drake declined cause we knew what was coming. "I heard that you all helped defend the fort from that monster." Ed took the coffee and took a sip. "That's a hundred cens." Yup, knew it. "You're charging me for this!?" he yelled. We talked about the hole that the monster came out of. They were sending a party down to take a look and that they would be back anytime now. Neil also told us that Major Miles went to the hospital in town to check on the guy we heard the General talk about.

Just then, a group of soldiers walked in and thanked us for saving their friends. "It's not a problem guys. We're glad we could help." Drake said and they shook all our hands. A minuet later, an officer walked in and told the guard to open the cells. "What's going on here?" Ed asked. "The General wants to see you all. Come with me." I changed back to human form and Drake gave me his coat. "Excuse me sir. Mind if I grab a shirt from my suitcase?" I asked the officer. He nodded and I went to my bag near the door to grab a shirt.

The officer led us to a large room below were we fought yesterday. We saw a very large hole in the floor that I guessed where the monster came from. "All of you, lets go!" the General ordered and we followed. We walked down the scaffolding stairway down into the hole and mounted some horses. Like last time, my horse knew what I was and wanted to have a fit. After a while, the horse calmed down and we began riding into the tunnel. We rode for about ten minuets, then I turned to my husband. "Drake." He turned to me. "Are you sure you're fine, after the dream? You've been pale since you woke up."

He nodded and smiled. "I'm fine, hon. Everybody has nightmares, it's just this time it was me that had one. Don't worry." he reached over and patted my shoulder. "Okay, dear. If you're sure. Did you and Ed call Winry for your automail yet?" I asked and he shook his head. "No. Haven't had time. And besides, we have more important things to take care of first. But I would like to ask you something though." I turned back to him. "Yes?" He sighed. "Why didn't you tell me you were still sick back in Rush Valley?" I lowered my head. "I'm sorry, love. I didn't want to hold you up. Especially after everything that's happened. I knew you wanted to leave and get back to Central, so I wanted to be strong for you."

He sighed again. "And what would happen if you got worse? What would happen if it ended up killing you? Yes, it was just a little bug from the pregnancy. But you didn't know that before. You asked me to trust you, but how can I when you hid something from me. I'll let it go this once, Jess. But I warn you, do it again, and I will leave you at grannys. No ifs, ands, or buts. Understood?" He was looking at me with a stern face and I could see he meant every word he said. "Yes, honey." I answered in a low voice. He reached over, grabbed my hand, and kissed it. "Good."

"Everyone, dismount here." the General demanded. Buccaneer grabbed a small crate from the pack horse, set it down, and the General took a seat. "Now then. We're safely away from any prying eyes, so you can tell me everything. And don't hold back." We all looked at each other and Drake spoke first. "well first off. That monster was a homunculus, wasn't it Ed?" Ed looked at him and nodded. Ed turned to the General and explained everything that happened in our journey and in Central with the homunculi and 'Father'.

We told her about Mustang and his subordinates, and Winry basically being used as a hostage. The General then stood up and looked down the tunnel. "We'll worry about that when the time comes, but right now we need to worry about this tunnel. What do you alchemists think of it?" Ed and Drake looked both directions and thought about it. "I really can't say. I don't see why they would want to dig a tunnel under ground." Drake said and Ed nodded. "Me either."

I looked down the tunnel, but I noticed something odd. I looked one way, and I saw that it very slightly curved to the right. I looked the other way, and it curved to the left. "Guys." I spoke and they looked at me. "The tunnel curves. I think that it may be dug in a large circle." Ed and Drake took another look, and they finally saw it, it really was curving. "Why would they dig a large circle under ground?" Buccaneer asked. "It has to do with alchemy." Ed answered. "The circle is used to control power."

Ed pulled out a map and studied it for a moment. After a minuet, he drew a circle around a town called Ishval. "Lieutenant Falman, can you list all the major events in Amestris that were accompanied by bloodshed?" The man walked over and began naming all the events he could think of. Ed seemed quite upset after he mentioned a town called Liore. But after he circled it, he drew some lines connecting the circled towns. The end result, a large transmutation circle that covered the whole country.

Everyone gasped at the sight of it. I turned to Drake. "What is that circle used for?" He lowered his head. "To make a Philosophers Stone, with human lives." I gasped again. "Human….lives?" He nodded. "Yes. And with an array that large, the entire country would be killed for it." Tears came to my eyes. The Falman guy then grabbed the map and studied it. "It was the military! Every one of these incidents was an uprising or Coup d'etat. Every time, it was because Central forces were sent in, and it got worse."

Al turned to Ed. "Do you think...General Huges?" Drake gasped and Ed turned to Al. "Yeah. He must have seen the circle, then was murdered to shut him up. He was in the court marshal office, so he had access to military events. He must have pieced everything together, and they killed him." Drake and Al lowered their heads. The General stepped forward. "I do not like this! From what I can see, there is only one place left, Briggs! What do those bastards have planned for my fort!?"

Suddenly, my instincts kicked in as I felt a chill run down my spine. _Something's_ _in_ _here!_ I looked down the tunnel and stared, sweat pouring from my head. Drake noticed, and stood up next to me. "Honey? You okay?" I didn't move or speak. _Something's here! It's coming!_ "Honey?" I was so frozen with fear that I just couldn't move or speak. Drake looked down the tunnel as everyone else looked at me. Drake turned back to me and shook my shoulder gently. "Jess, whats wrong!" he asked in a slightly raised voice. _It's coming!_

"We need to leave, now!" I said sternly, but in a whisper. "What?" he asked as I took a step back. "We have to leave!" Drake turned down the tunnel, then back to me. He could see that I was completely taken with fear. "General, we need to leave, now!" She just stared at him. "We're not finished here. We stay." she answered sternly. _It's coming faster! "_ No General, NOW! MOVE!" Drake yelled as we all quickly mounted our horses and left at a full gallop. _It's coming!_ "Faster!" I yelled as we pushed the horses as fast as they could.

We finally got back to the tunnel entrance and I was breathing real hard. Drake helped me down and grabbed me in a hug. "What the hell was that about!? What the hell is wrong with her!?" the General yelled at us. Drake turned to her. "General, she has very sharp senses. I have NEVER seen her this scared of anything! If she told us to run, she had a VERY good reason for it! What ever it was down there, it scared the shit out of her!" The General looked at me and saw me sweating profusely and breathing rapidly.

"Very well. We'll wait a while, then send some armed men to investigate." she said and I turned to her. "No, don't do it. Trust me, don't do it. There's something down there. Something that brings nothing but death." The General looked at me a little shocked. "Sir!" A soldier ran over to us and saluted. "Lieutenant General Raven is here to see you!" he said and the General was now mad. "I guess our time is up." she spoke and Ed turned to her. "Excuse me General. But do you think you could con some information out of him?" The General stared at him, then nodded. "No promises." she spoke and walked to meet the newcomer.


	8. Strange Presence In The Tunnel

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Strange Presence In The Tunnel

Drake POV

"Lieutenant General Raven is here to see you!" the soldier said and the General was now mad. "I guess our time is up." she spoke and Ed turned to her. "Excuse me General. But do you think you could con some information out of him?" The General stared at him, then nodded. "No promises." she spoke and walked to meet the newcomer. I turned to my wife, and she was still shaking. "It's okay, hon. We're safe now. We'll be fine now." I tried to calm her, but she was completely terrified. I turned to Buccaneer. "Sorry Captain, but I need to take her to the doctor. She's in shock right now." He looked at her, then to me and nodded. "Fine. But stay there until someone comes for you." I nodded and led her to the doctors quarters.

We finally got to the office and I opened the door. The doctor immediately saw her state and got a chair for her. "What happened?" she asked. "I really don't know. We were in the tunnel and something down there scared her like this." The doctor got her to sit down, grabbed a cup of coffee, and gave it to her. "Don't worry. I wont charge you. She needs it. The only thing we can do right now is comfort her until she comes to." I nodded and shook her hand. "Thanks doc." She nodded back and went to her office as I sat down next to Jess.

She was in that state for a good hour or so before she finally spoke. "Drake. I'm not crazy. There was something down there." I put my hand on her shoulder. "I cant say if there was or not. No one saw or heard anything, but I do believe you. It only makes sense that they would have something guard that tunnel from intruders. But I can only wonder what, considering that it terrified you beyond belief." She looked at my eyes with a stern look. "Whatever it was, Drake, it was NOT human. I felt it. It was just….pure death." She was starting to shake again, but I grabbed her in a hug.

"It's okay, hon. We're not going back in there, trust me." The door suddenly opened and an officer stepped in. "I'm sorry sir, but General Raven wishes to speak with you. I'm to escort you back to the cells to meet with him. If you wish, the woman may stay here with the doctor." I nodded then turned to Jess. "Do you want to stay here and get better, or would you like to come?" She looked at me for a moment. "I'm fine, dear. I'll go with you." I smiled and we both stood up. "She's better now. She can come with me." I told the officer and he nodded

We got back to the cells and we entered the same one Ed and Al were in. General Raven entered right behind us. "I am General Raven, from Central. The fuhrer has told me all about you four, and I can see you kept your mouths shut. Very good." We all just glared at him. "Hello" Ed mumbled. "That was the agreement, the agreement that you failed to keep your part of." I bluntly said. "Oh don't worry. Everything's being taken care of as we speak." Ed asked him about the homunculus from the tunnel and the General told us that General Armstrong was putting him back in the tunnel. We all gasped. "General Armstrong is working for 'us' now, Fullmetal and Blade."

Raven turned and walked away, and the guard put me and Jess back in our own cell. "Perfect! Just freaking perfect! All that work, and it was for nothing! I'm getting sick and.." "Shut up, Drake!" I started but Ed interrupted in a stern, but low voice. "Don't worry. I don't think she's really working with him." I took a breath and settled down while Ed quietly explained the conversation between Armstrong and Raven that they overheard. "So, right out of the horses mouth, huh? So what now?" Jess asked. We all sat and thought about it for a while. "There's really nothing we can do right now. All we can do at this point is play dumb and be their dolls." I stated. "Jess." Al spoke. "Yeah?"

"What happened in the tunnel? What was it that scared you so badly?" I turned to Jess, wondering that a little myself. "I don't know, Al. While you guys were talking about the circle, my instincts kicked in and I could sense that something was very wrong. There was something in that tunnel with us. Something not human. I don't know what it was, but my wolf instincts were telling me to run for my life. I felt that if I didn't I would be dead right now. I really can't explain it any better." I look at Jess and she shivered a little, but kept her calm.

"Hey Ed." I had a theory on the 'presence'. "Yeah." I held my hands out off the cell bars. "Name off the homunculi we've seen so far." Ed began naming the ones we've seen so far and I counted them with my fingers. "So that's six. If what they said about there being seven was true, it may have been the seventh one that Jess felt inside the tunnel." I saw Jess thinking on it. "It does make sense. It very well could be." Ed started. "But we've fought them before, and so has Jess. And she has never acted like that, even when they were right in front of her." Al added. I looked to Jess who was still thinking. "When…..when I felt it...the thing felt like it was crawling in the shadows. Like….it lived in them." she finally spoke.

We all sat in thought for a moment. "There is one more thing." I started. "We need to figure out how long that homunculus has been digging that tunnel. And also, how far he still has to go. It may give us a clue as to how long before they try to use the array." I finished and Jess looked at me. "Judging by his size, it's safe to say that he digs pretty efficiently." she stated and Ed followed. "And we have to take the width of the tunnel into account too." A silence followed until I spoke up. "But I think that's the least of our concerns at the moment. We need to worry about the 'bloodshed' that's supposed to happen here."

"Yeah. Good point." Ed answered. I saw Jess yawn and lay down. "Tired?" I asked and she nodded. "Very. I'm sorry guys, I'm gonna get some sleep." she finished in another yawn as I chuckled. "Okay, hon. Night." She mumbled a reply, but I didn't catch it. "Hey Drake." Ed called. "Yeah" I was still watching Jess fall asleep. "You still have your bracers arrays, right? You can get us out of here." I turned to the cell bars. "Not a good idea. If we're caught, they'll take them. And we may need them in the future. Not worth the risk." I heard Ed moan and lay down on the bed.

"Hey Ed." I heard him yawn. "Yeah?" I thought for a minuet. "I can't remember, but I once told you what I did back in my old world. What did I say I did?" I heard Ed turn around in his bed. "Uh….I think you said you were…..a tank commander? Yeah, that's what it was, a tank commander. Why?" I thought about yesterday, when I just hopped into that tank and 'knew' what I was doing. "I think I have a theory." I head Ed sit up and Al turn. "All my memories from my old world are gone. If I was a tank commander there, I should have forgotten it. But for some reason, I remembered how to use tanks."

I heard Ed and Al gasp. "You remembered?" I turned to the bars. "Well, not remembered per say. I've never even seen a tank in this world before yesterday. But yet, I knew exactly how to use the tank when I jumped in it. I think that even though I don't have any memories of using a tank, the experience I learned is still there. I think that it was only the 'memories' of using and being in the tanks that were taken. However, the knowledge and instincts of how to use them is still there."

"What do you mean, Drake?" Al asked. "I think that the memories were taken, but the knowledge I learned is still there. Ed, did I tell you that I knew how to fight with swords and throw knives before?" After a brief silence Ed confirmed that I had. "Then that would explain how I hit Buccaneers chainsaw arm thing with such precision. Even though I lost my memory of learning how to throw knives, I still have the knowledge to do it. So if that's the case, I need to know what else I told you that I knew. What else did I tell you Ed?"

"Uh, lets see. You were a tank commander, you knew sword fighting and knife throwing….you also said you were good in martial arts. That I do know cause we fought at Winrys'. Remember?" I thought back, and I did remember sparing with Ed in hand to hand combat. "Yeah, I do. I remember that it ended in a tie, then we fought with wooden swords, that I won. So we know that I can fight unarmed. What else?" I waited for Ed to think and answer. "For right now, that's all I can think of. You still remember everything that happened in the gate, right?"

"Yes. The gate is the first memory I have. There's nothing else beyond that." I again waited for Ed. "Besides what I've told you, I cant recall anything else. If I do remember something, I'll let you know. But with taking everything that has happened since your...deal...I would say your theory is sound. And it's very interesting that you forgot that you learned something, but still know how to do it." I thought about it a moment. "Yeah, you're right. It is. Well, I'm gonna catch some sleep, before she starts snoring again." I heard Ed moan.

"That's one of only two reasons that I truly hate her Drake." I chuckled. "Same here Ed." Then Jess turned around. "I heard that!" She yelled and I sighed. "I need to learn to keep my mouth shut." I heard Ed snicker as I walked over and layed down next to her, the best I could with the very small 'bed'. Jess grabbed me into a hug and we both stared into each others eyes. "Love you, wolf." I whispered and she smiled. "Love you too, freak." We kissed then closed our eye to sleep…..SNORE! My eyes flew open as me and Ed spoke in unison. "Damn wolf!"


	9. Old Legs And Young Love

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Old Legs And Young Love

Drake POV

We waited in our cells for days, only me Jess were let out on occasion because she started vomiting again. Something wasn't right, I thought that mourning sickness was in the first two months. But here she was three and a half months in and she still vomiting. And it started during her third month, not her first. We finally decided that we needed to tell the doctor about her being pregnant so she could look at her and find out what is wrong. We went there and she began to look her over. "Well, this is odd. But I don't have the means to check her thoroughly. You'll need to go to the hospital in town. I'll talk to the General."

We were put back in the cell while the doctor went to see the General. A few minuets later, a man wearing a white suit walked in. "Hello boys. I was hoping to have a word with the Fullmetal and Blade alchemists." he spoke and Ed moaned. "Who are you? I asked. "Solf Kimbley, the Crimson Alchemist. And don't tell me that you dislike me too. You should be grateful. After all, I did bring a friend to see you all." Me and Jess looked at each other in confusion. The door opened again and in walked Winry. "What the!?" I started. "Winry! What are you doing here!?" Ed and Al spoke in unison.

I sighed as Winry and Ed argued as to why she was here, and I was in no mood to stop it. They finally quit and we all, except for Al, went to the doctors office to get our automail switched out. Winry started with Ed, so I sat by and waited with Jess. Kimbley tried to stop her, but I told him that I was under orders to protect her. As Winry was working on Eds arm, I saw Ed blush when she got close to his face. I'm not stupid, I can see he has a thing for her. _I'll have to have a chat with him when he's done._ I chuckled.

The doctor entered and walked to me. "The General said she would have a car and escort ready for you this evening. It'll take you to the hospital in town." She bent down to my ear. "And I didn't tell her about the you know what." She stood up and I smiled. "Thanks doc." She nodded then walked to her office. But Winry overheard the conversation. "Tell her about what?" She was looking at me with stern eyes. I turned to Kimbley who had two soldiers with him. "Kimbley, give us a minuet. Please?" He stared at me a minuet then left with the two guards.

I turned to Winry and she had a confused look. "Well, we'll tell you, but you have to promise not to scream. Okay?" Now she was even more confused, but nodded. I turned to Jess, who smiled and turned to Winry. "Well, I'm pregnant." Silence filled the room. Suddenly, Winry dropped the tool she was holding as she ran up to Jess and gripped her in a tight hug. "Really!? Oh my god I'm so happy for you! How far!?" Winry kept ranting and Jess finally found room to answer. "Three months." Winry was just shocked. "Three months!? And you didn't tell me!? Why!?" Jess shrugged her shoulders. "I honestly didn't know. I didn't get mourning sickness so I didn't know." Winry had tears in her eyes.

"I'm so happy for you two." She said as she ran to me and hugged me. "Thanks Winry. I hate to kill the moment, but we need to get the automail switch done." Winry looked me in the eyes and nodded. "Right." She walked back to finish Eds arm. "So, what is the name?" I chuckled. "Uh, well that's the problem." Jess answered. Winry looked at us as we both held up two fingers apiece. Winrys eye grew wide. "Two!?" she asked and we nodded. She didn't come hug us again, but she did bounce in her chair. "The names!?" Me and Jess both chuckled. "Well if their boys, it's Justin and Mathew. If their girls, it's Elizebeth and Sarah." Jess answered. Winry just about cried. "Their beautiful! Congratulations!"

And that's when it hit me. _Me and Jess have only been married for about a month now. How the hell is she three months pregnant? Was she pregnant before we met?_ My thoughts were interrupted by Ed yelling in pain. "Damn Winry! I told you to warn me before you connect the nerves!" I sighed as Winry began to work on his leg. Winry finished with Ed and Kimbley took him away to talk as Winry started on my legs. After about two hours, and two very painful connections, Winry was done with me.

I walked around and I couldn't believe how light my legs were. "How in the hell are they so light!? Their not even half the weight as the other ones!" The door opened and a soldier came in. "Sir, the car is waiting for you out front. I'll be your escort." I nodded. "Thank you for the switch out Winry. It's good to see you again." She smiled and gave me and Jess a hug. "Same here guys. Congrats on the.." I placed my hand over her mouth. "Shhh. Keep it secret. We can't let anyone know right now." She nodded and gave me another hug. "Congrats though."

Me and Jess ran into Ed on the way out and I had a quick talk with him. "Sooo. Have you told her you love her yet?" I asked and Ed blushed. "I'll take that as a no." I chuckled as Ed got mad. "Love? How could I fall in love with a gear head?" I smirked. "The same way I fell in love with a wolf. Desperation." Ed was on the verge of ranting as I left him in the hallway. We got to the car and took the long drive to town. I didn't realize we were so far in the mountains.

The car stopped at the hospital and we walked in. We didn't want her to be discovered, so we asked for a simple blood test to confirm if she was sick or not. We waited for about two hours, then the doctor came back. "Well, the test came back negative for any infections. It's probably just the pregnancy interfering with your stomach. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not." Jess let out a sigh of relief and I looked at him. "Doctor, may I speak with you a moment?" He nodded and we both left the room. "Doctor, did the test say about far she was in the pregnancy?" The doctor looked at me slightly confused.

"Well...yes. She's a little over four months now." I froze, but didn't let the doctor see it. "Are you sure? We thought she was not quite that far, around three months, and with twins." The doctor shook his head. "She is carrying twins, but she's way beyond three months. I estimate about seventeen to eighteen weeks." I was still very shocked, but again, did not show it. "Thank you doctor." He nodded and left. I stood there in the hallway, trying to process what I just heard. _Four months? But a week ago she was three! What the hell is going on!?_

I walked back into the room and saw Jess was ready to go. "What was that about, honey." I waved her off. "I was asking about that Kimbley guy, hon. It's all fine." I saw her smile at me. "What?" She smiled more and slightly lifted her shirt. I could see her stomach was no longer flat, but had a slight bump on it. She leaned over to me. "It's my baby bump, honey. I'm so happy." I smiled back, but was worried as well. I needed to speak with Ed and Al about this. "I am too hon." We kissed as the car drove us back to Briggs.

When we got back, we were taken back to the cells where Ed and that Kimbley guy were talking with Al and Winry. Kimbley turned to us. "Well, hello there. How did your hospital visit go?" We stared at him. "Not too well. She has a fever and can't stay here. I have to talk to the General about letting us go to Resembool till she gets better." I answered. He just watched us. "Oh, is that so? Well then, I'll have to make sure that happens. Can't have your sickness getting worse now." he said with a grin. "But before I do, I need to speak with Ed for a minuet." I stated. He raised a brow. "What for?"

"It's personal." He just stared at me. "Very well. I'll give you five minuets. We have matters to tend to, so be quick." Me and Ed left the cell room and stood in the hallway. "So what is it Drake?" Ed asked. I looked around to see if anyone could hear us. "There's something wrong with Jess." Ed was slightly shocked. "What is it?" I looked around again. "Remember back in Central that we said she was three months pregnant?" He nodded. "Well, the doctor said that she's now four to four and a half now." Now ed was really shocked. "Four and a half? But how?"

"I don't know. I'm going to try and go to grannys and get her input on this. But don't tell anyone, not even Al. I haven't even told Jess. I think it has to do with her being part wolf. I'm going to look into it." Ed was still shocked, but nodded. "Alright. Be careful." I smiled as Major Miles walked up. "Blade, the General wants to see you now." I nodded and turned to Ed. "Tell her I'm talking to the General, nothing else. Please, Ed." He nodded and I left with Miles.

I got to the Generals office and walked in. "You wanted to see me?" She just glared at me. "Why do you want to go to Resembool? Whats wrong with your...friend?" I looked at the other people in the room and the General noticed. "All of you, leave us." They all saluted, then left, except Major Miles. "Now, tell me what going on." I let out a sigh. "She's….pregnant, General." She was slightly shocked, but held composure. "Being up here is making it worse, so we need to leave. I want to take her to Resembool to a friend where she can rest." She stared at me with a stern look. "Very well. I'll have a car ready for you in the morning. Good luck, Blade Alchemist." I saluted her, then left.

I walked back towards the cells and tried to think of what was wrong with my wife.


	10. Starting For Home

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Starting For Home

Jess POV

I was put back in the cell, but the door was left open so we could all talk. Drake and Ed left the room to speak with each other while I spoke with Al and Winry. "So how did your hospital visit go, Jess?" Al asked. The doctor said I was fine, but Drake said that I had a fever. I decided to go along with him. "Well, I apparently have a fever. The doctor thinks it's because me being up here in the cold while pregnant. So Drake is going to see if they will let us go home to grannys." Winry walked into my cell and sat next to me.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concerned eyes. "For now, I guess. I've been vomiting the past couple of days. It comes and goes, but this time was a little worse." And I wasn't lieing, this time was worse than the last. And I have been far more tired as well. Over the past week I've slept for most of it. "Are you sure, Jess? Please tell me the truth." Winry had a small tear in her eye and I could tell she was really worried. "I'm sure, Winry. It's just a small fever. I'll get better in no time. I'm a wolf, give me some credit." I smiled and Winry grabbed me in a hug. "Okay."

Then Ed walked back in with that Kimbley guy and he asked Winry to come to the next cell. She stood up and so did I, but as soon as I did, my stomach kicked in again. I placed my hand over my mouth and ran towards the restroom. I started vomiting again and I heard a knock on the door. "Miss, are you alright?" It was one of the soldiers that were with Kimbley. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just a little sick is all." I vomited again and I heard him walk away from the door.

I continued to vomit for a few minuets until I heard knocking again. "Hon, I'm coming in." The door opened and my husband walked in. He knelt down next to me and pulled my hair out of my face. "I spoke with the General. She's letting us go to Resembool, we leave in the morning." I vomited again then nodded. "This sucks. I just wanted to go with you guys and now I get sick again. All of this just sucks." He chuckled and rubbed my back. "Yeah. Well you're the one who wanted to push herself." he stated smartly and I glared at him. "Shut up."

He chuckled again. "Yes, dear." After a few more minuets, my stomach settled down and we went back to the cells as Kimbley walked out with Ed. "Well, what did the General say?" Ed asked. "She's letting us leave. We head out in the morning." Drake answered and Ed nodded. "Well, long story short. Scar is up here in the north. We leave tomorrow to go after him. Doctor Marcoh is said to be traveling with him, so we have to apprehend him as well." Drake nodded. "I see. Well I'm going to take Jess and let her rest. I'll see you later Ed." They pounded fists, then Drake and I went into the cell.

I layed down on the bed and Drake put my head in his lap, stroking my hair. He started humming the song he once sung to me, and I slowly drifted off to sleep. I was woken up the next morning to Drake nudging me awake. "Hon, time to wake up. Our car is ready." I slowly sat up and tried to fully wake up, but I was still very tired. "How long was I asleep, honey?" He looked at his watch. "About thirteen hours." I was a little shocked. "Thirteen hours? Then why am I still so tired?" The room door opened and Ed and Al walked in.

"Well, we're heading out guys. I guess this is where we part ways for a while." Ed spoke as tears came to my eyes. I didn't want to leave, I wanted to continue traveling with them. But Drake was right, I needed to get some rest. I stood up gave the brothers each a hug. "Good luck guys. It's been so much fun. I hope we run into each other again soon." I kissed Ed on the cheek and wiped my tears away. "Don't worry Jess. We'll see you guys again soon. You go home and rest up." Al spoke and I smiled. "Excuse me sir. Your car is ready to go." a soldier told Drake.

We all shook hands one last time and we both left the room. We walked out front and got in the car to the train station. "How long is the train ride, hon?" I asked and he thought about it. "Well, it was a day and a half from Central to North City. I'm guessing about a half day from here to North City. Then the ride to East city is about another day and a half. And about fourteen hours or so to Resembool. So about four days." We both twitched when he said that. "Four….days? On the train? Perfect." I complained. Drake looked at me. "Do you have your medicine from Knox?" I shook my head. "I'm out."

"We'll have to get more when we get to North City. Cant have your stomach acting crazy the whole ride there." he said as he put his arm around me. I leaned into him and dozed off, again.

Drake POV

I watched a Jess slept. The road to North City was bumpy, so the car would jolt every now and then. But she was never woken up. _I guess she really is that tired. And how is she four months along now? It_ _just_ _doesn't make any sense._ I sat there watching Jess's chest rise and fall with her breathing until we finally got to North City. "Excuse me, but can we stop at a medicine store so I can pick something up for her?" I asked the soldier driving and he nodded. We stopped at the store and Jess woke up. "I'll be right back, hon. I'm just picking up some medicine for you."

I left the car and walked into the store up to the man at the counter. "Excuse me, but do you have anything for stomach aches and vomiting? Something that's safe for pregnant women?" The man nodded and walked into the back. While waiting, I saw a stand that had some candies on it. I picked up a few pieces and walked back to the counter as the man came back. "Here you go sir. Take a one tablespoon dose every six hours." I paid for the medicine and candies, then walked back towards the car. But I stopped when I saw a stuffed animal that looked like a wolf near the door. I grabbed it, walked back to the counter, and paid for it.

I got back in the car and we drove off to the train station. "Here you go sir. If I'm not mistaken, the train should be here soon." I shook the soldiers hand and thanked him. We walked up to the ticket counter and paid for the tickets. The train would be there in a few minuets. I pulled out the medicine and gave it to Jess. "Here, hon. The man said one tablespoon every six hours." She took it and drank a small dose. "Thank you, dear. Lets hope it works." I smiled at her and the train pulled into the station. "Ready to go?" I asked and she nodded, putting the medicine in her pocket.

We boarded the train and took our usual booth in the back. When the train left, I pulled the stuffed wolf out of the bag. "Here hon, for you." She smiled and kissed me. "Thank you. I love it." I smiled back and pulled out a piece of candy I bought. "Can I have one?" I looked at her with a little confusion. "Are you sure, with your stomach?" She nodded and I gave a piece to her. We stared out the window for a while until she yawned. "I'm tired again." she stated and I was worried. She was sleeping way, way too much. "Honey, I'm worried about you. You've been sleeping quite a lot recently."

"I know, I'm sorry. I don't know why, but I'm just tired. Like my body is just completely worn out." She snuggled into my side and I put my arm around her shoulder again. As soon as she settled in, she passed out. _Something is wrong. I don't know that much about pregnancy, but there is no way it can cause her to be 'this' tired. And then there's the vomiting sessions. As soon as we get to grannys, I'm gonna talk with granny about this._

Jess POV

I woke up and it was night out. My husband was leaning against the window, sleeping. I felt my stomach kick, so I slowly got up, as not to wake him, and quietly ran to the restroom. I began vomiting again, but not as bad as last time. After a minuet, I stood up and washed my face in the sink. When I looked in the mirror, I saw that my face was slightly pale, but still had plenty of color left in it. I took the medicine from my pocket and took a dose. "I don't think this stuff is working very well." I mumbled under my breath.

I left the restroom and walked back to the booth. For once, I wasn't tired. So I grabbed a book from my husbands bag and began to read. I heard him stir in his sleep and I looked over to see he was twitching and his teeth clenched. "Oh no." I mumbled and tried to wake him. He was definitely having another nightmare. "Honey, wake up." I shook him again and his twitching was getting worse. "Drake. Wake up. Come on." I slapped him in the face and he shot upright, breathing rapidly. "Honey, it was just a dream. Calm down." He looked at me and grabbed me into a tight hug.

"A dream. Just a dream. A dream." he spoke under breath. "Honey, are you okay?" He leaned back, kissed me, and leaned back against the window. "I'm fine, hon. It's just that worrying so much about you keeps stressing me out. And it's giving me nightmares. I'll be fine." I looked at him with worry, but chose not to ask. "Okay hon. Love you." He looked back at me and smiled. "Love you too, wolf." He went back to sleep, and I turned back to the book, watching him. _There's something he's not telling me. Something is wrong, I know it. I feel it._ I continued reading the book, until sleep sneaked up on me, and took me away.


	11. Old Friends

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Old Friends

Drake POV

I woke up to the slight snoring of my wife, at least it wasn't very loud. I looked at my watch, it was 6:49 in the morning. We still had about another twelve or thirteen hours until we got to Central. I looked at my wife and she was sleeping peacefully on my shoulder. My butt was hurting from the hard wooden seat, so I decided to walk around a bit to sooth it away. I gently picked her head up off my shoulder, stood up, and layed her back down flat on the bench. I yawned as I walked to the restroom to splash water on my face to fully wake up.

When I entered, I saw Jess's medicine bottle sitting on the sink. "She must have vomited again." I mumbled. I put the bottle in my pocket and washed my face. I saw in the mirror that I needed to shave again. So I walked back to the booth, grabbed my razor out of my bag, and walked back to the restroom. I quickly shaved and then I noticed that my hair was down to my shoulder blades. I did like to have a little long hair, but I decided that this was long enough. From now on, I would have to trim it every now and then. I fixed my hair in the tie and walked back to the booth.

I picked Jess back up and sat down, putting her head in my lap. I looked out the window and saw the sun was just coming up over the horizon. "Morning, honey." I looked down and she was wiping sleep from her eyes. "Morning sleepy wolf." She lightly slapped my chest, sat up, then yawned. "How much farther?" she asked in mid yawn. "About twelve hours or so. Here." I gave her the bottle of medicine. "You left this in the restroom." She face palmed and took it.

"Sorry. I threw up again last night, but not that bad." I gave her a worried look. "I'm fine, honey. Really." I sighed and let it go. She layed back down on her back, head in my lap, and started rubbing her baby bump. "I'm so happy, Drake. I just can't wait till their here. I'm just so excited." I smiled and placed my hand on hers over the bump. "Me neither, hon." She reached over and grabbed the book she had been reading. I watched out the window as the trees and houses passed by.

We had finally arrived in Central, but found that the train to East City was not until tomorrow. "Hey, babe. I'm going to go see Mustang and give him a brief on whats going on." She nodded then looked into town. "Okay. I'll go see Mrs. Huges and Elicia and say hi." I looked at her worried. "I'll be fine dear. Trust me, please." I sighed and gave her some money for a cab. "Be careful. And don't leave there until I come get you. I want to see them too before we head to the hotel." She smiled and kissed my cheek. "Okay, hon. Bye." I waved her off as I haled a cab.

"Central Command, please." I told the driver. After about fifteen minuets, we arrived and I got out. I walked up the stairs and presented my watch, and the guards let me in. I walked down the hallway until I got to Mustangs office door, then knocked. "Come in." I heard his stern voice. I opened the door and saw him sitting at the desk doing paperwork. "Evening sir." I greeted as I saluted. He looked up. "Oh, evening Blade." he said and saluted back. "I thought you went up north." I shrugged my shoulders. "Had a personal matter that required my attention, sir. May I speak with you privately?"

He nodded then told his new subordinates to leave. "So what is it?" he asked with his chin resting in his hands. I explained to him about Jess being pregnant, but that something was very wrong about it. He snickered when I told him about her being pregnant, but held back any remarks. "I see. So your requesting the mission to Kaumafy? (the city just north of Resembool) I thought about what he asked, then realized it was a cover. "Uh, yes sir. I'm not much help to Fullmetal at this point, so I need a new assignment." I played along and he smirked.

"Very well. This should keep you busy for a few months. There have been reports of local robberies and attacks, all made by the same man or group." He continued giving me my 'fake' brief. "We don't want to give our involvement away, so you'll be there as a new resident looking for work. Here are you fake IDs." He handed me the paperwork and I looked at it. "Thank you sir." He tapped his desk with his finger and looked at the paperwork in my hand. I looked and I saw he had written a note, hidden in the papers.

'Consider this a gift for your wedding. Keep me informed on her status. Good luck.' it read. "You are dismissed Blade. Good luck on the mission." I stood up and saluted him. He returned it, and I left the office. "Alright, now on to Mrs. Huges' place." I mumbled. I left the Command Center and hailed another cab. "To the Huges residence, please." I told the driver and he nodded. "It's starting to get cold out there, isn't it sir?" I chuckled and nodded. "Sure is. Another week and winter will be here." We drove a few blocks more and the car stopped. "Thank you." I said and got out.

I walked into the building and walk upstairs to Mrs. Huges' door. I knocked on the door and heard a faint, "Come in." I opened the door to see my wife sitting on the couch with Elicia sitting on her lap, Mrs. Huges sitting across from her. "Oh! Well good evening Mr. Ganters." Mrs. Huges said cheerfully. "Please maam, just Drake." I politely corrected and she smiled. "Very well. And you just call me Gracia." I chuckled. "Okay then, Gracia." I walked over and she stood up and gave me a hug. "It's good to see you again." I said and she smiled more. "Likewise, Drake. And congratulations."

I looked at her a little confused. "For?" I asked and she laughed. "On the pregnancy and marriage." I twitched and looked at Jess who held her hands up. "I didn't say a thing. She figured it out on her own." Gracia started laughing. "It's true, she didn't. But I'm not a fool, Drake. I can very easily see she's pregnant by looking at her stomach." I face palmed and moaned. "Didn't' think that one through." Gracia laughed again. "I can see you two are trying to hide it, so I wont say anything. Would you like some tea?" I smiled and nodded. "Yes, please."

We all sat down and the two women talked about babies and clothes, and all that stuff. I sat there thinking on what Gracia said about seeing Jess's stomach. She only had a small bump before we left Briggs, now it is much bigger. I was really getting very worried. I thought about it a minuet, then decided to ask Gracia about it. I looked at Elicia. "Hey, Elicia. Why don't you show Jess your room. Me and your mommy are going to talk a bit." She smiled, grabbed Jess's hand, and pulled her away. "Oh, thanks hon. You're gonna pay for that." Jess said playfully and Gracia laughed.

After the two left the room, I turned to Gracia. "There's something you need to know, Gracia." She looked at me with slight confusion. "Yes?" I sighed. "Jess is not entirely human. She's a chimera." I saw Gracia gasp with her hand over her mouth. "I found her abandoned in a lab a little over two months ago. She's part wolf." I saw tears come to Gracias eyes as she turned and looked in the direction that Jess went. "That poor girl. How could they do something like that?" I shook my head. "I don't know. But that's not the issue right now." Gracia turned back to me. "What do you mean?

"Gracia, please promise not to say a word to anyone, no one at all." She nodded. "I promise." I sighed again. "There is something wrong with Jess and the pregnancy," I whispered and she gasped again. "She went to a doctor almost two weeks ago, and he told her that she was three months pregnant. You follow so far?" Gracia gave me a nod and I continued. "Well, she started vomiting again. So I took her to the hospital while we were in the north, three days ago. They did a blood test and the doctor told me that she was about 'four' months pregnant." She gasped again. "Four?" she asked and I nodded.

"Yes. And she looks it too. She has the baby bump and all. But here's the thing. You saw how big it is, right?" She nodded. "Well, it wasn't there a week ago. Her pregnancy is going way, way too fast. I believe it has to do with her being part wolf." Tears came to Gracias eyes as she again looked to where Jess had gone. "It's just not fair. For her to go through all this. She did nothing wrong, and she has to go through this." she finally stated. "So what will you do now?"

I sighed. "We're going to a friends place to stay for a while. At least until I can figure out whats wrong with her. Ed and Al are still up north, but I'll catch up with them later. For now, my wife comes first. And my kids." Gracia nodded and stood up. "Yes they do, Drake." She walked over, knelt down, and gave me a hug. "You two are going through so much and still love each other. I'm so happy and proud of you two. And so is Maes." I frowned and lowered my head at his name. "I'm sorry Gracia. He was taken from all of us so soon. I guess life just likes to laugh at us all."

She pulled away and smiled. "Yes, it does. But all we can do, is laugh back at it." At that moment, Jess and Elicia walked into the room. "I'm getting tired again, hon. Ready to go?" she asked and I nodded. I stood up and gave Gracia another hug. "It was so good to see you again, Gracia. We'll visit when we get to Central again, promise." We broke away and Jess hugged her while I hugged Elicia. "You be a big girl for your mommy. Okay?" She smiled and nodded. "Kaaayy" she answered in a high pitch voice. We waved goodbye and left the room. We began our long walk to the hotel, and I saw Jess was on the verge of passing out. "Sigh. Come here, dummy. Climb on my back." She nodded and did so. I carried her piggy back the rest of the way. I looked over and she was fast asleep, snoring in my ear. "Sigh. Damn wolf." I mumbled as we entered the hotel.


	12. Too Fast

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Too Fast

Jess POV

I woke up to a dark room, that I guessed was the hotel room. My husband was next to me, sleeping deeply with his hand on my stomach. I felt my stomach kick again and I knew what was coming. I eased his hand off, slowly got up, and ran quietly to the restroom for the hundredth time. I began vomiting and stopped long enough to get my hair out of the way. I felt my stomach move again, but this time it felt...different. It didn't feel like I was about to throw up. It felt like something was moving inside.

I placed my hand over my stomach and I felt it again. _Was that…_ I waited for a minuet, and it moved again. _It is!_ I waited again, and a few minuets later, I felt the movement again. Tears came to my eyes as I ran back to the bed and shook my husband awake. "Mmmm. Go away. Leave me alone. Just five more minnnn." he mumbled in sleep. I sighed and shook him again. "What? I'm tired, wolf." I was getting upset. I slapped his face and he shot up. "Ow! Damn it, wolf! What!?" He stopped when he saw my tears. "Whats wrong?" I smiled, grabbed his hand, and placed it on my stomach.

"Their moving! Feel it!?" I asked and he waited for a minuet. I felt the movement again and he smiled with tears in his eyes. "Their like you, honey. Jumpy." he smirked. I lightly slapped his face, kissed him, then grabbed him in a hug. "Their moving, hon. Our kids. Their moving." We held each other in bed with our hands on my stomach, feeling the babies jump around. After about thirty minuets, sleep took me back.

I was woken back up by Drake shaking me. "Come on, honey. We're going to miss the train." I got up and changed, then we left the hotel. We got lucky, cause we got there just as the train was about to leave. We walked in and the doors closed behind us. "Whew. Made it." he stated. We sat down in the booth and I layed down in Drakes lap again, falling back asleep. I woke back up to my stomach kicking and I ran to the restroom and vomited. Drake came up behind me and held my hair out of the way. "Hon, I'm getting really worried now. You're not holding anything down. Before we go to grannys, we're stopping at the hospital in Resembool to check on this."

I nodded and vomited again. "I agree. What the hell is wro.." I was stopped by vomiting again. "Wrong with me." I finished. I heard Drake sigh as I stood back up. "I don't know, hon. But we'll figure it out. Come on. Lets get you some rest." He walked me back to the booth and I layed down with my head in his lap, and my hand over my stomach. It was very odd. My stomach wasn't hurting, nothing was hurting. I was just throwing up. Was it the pregnancy, or a stomach bug, or what? I slowly fell back asleep.

I was woken up by Drake shaking me. "Honey. Wake up." I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "What?" I looked around and saw that the train was stopped. "Uh, we're here, hon." I looked at him surprised. "What!? I slept the whole damn way!?" He nodded slowly and I face palmed. _What the hell? How was I that tired that I slept for almost two whole days straight!? What is wrong with me!?_ "Come on honey. Lets go." We got off the train and checked the schedule for the next train to Resembool. Drake pulled out his watch and checked the time. "Eight hours, huh? Well, lets find somewhere to eat, shall we?" he asked and I nodded.

"Sure. I'm starving." He looked at me worried. "After all the vomiting you've been doing, I'm sure." We left the station and went to a sandwich shop. "What would you like, hon?" he asked as I looked at the menu. "A turkey sandwich, a ham sandwich, and an orange juice." I answered. He nodded and gave the order to the waitress. "How you felling, hon?" I placed my hand on my stomach and smiled. "I'm fine, dear. Better now." He smiled as the waitress brought our food out and he paid for it. "I'm thinking of going to the library after this. Wanna go?" I looked at him and nodded. "Of course. I feel like reading something and I finished that book."

"Okay. Sounds good." We finished our meal and walked to the library. "I'll be over here, hon." he said pointing at a book shelf. "Okay. I'll be around here." He nodded, we kissed, and went separate ways. I walked over to the fiction section and looked for a good book. I finally found one, walked over to a table, and started reading.

Drake POV

I waited until Jess went behind some book shelves, then sneaked over to the medical/veterinary section. I looked at the shelf book by book until I found one labeled 'Human Anatomy'. I grabbed that one and continued looking for another book, in the animals area. "Let see, lets see...ah, here it is." I mumbled as I pulled a book called 'The Anatomy and Species of Wolves'. I walked to a back room and sat to begin reading. I opened the human one first and turned to the chapter on reproduction. "Alright. Lets see here." I mumbled again.

I began reading all about pregnancy and what was to be expected during the stages of pregnancy. It turned out that morning sickness was supposed to ease up and stop around fourteen to sixteen weeks. But she was still vomiting like crazy, and getting worse. I turned to the wolf book and looked at the same area. It turned out that, although rare, wolves can get the sickness as well. "Okay, that covers the vomiting, but what about that tiredness." I mumbled. I checked the human book and read that some women do get exceedingly tired, but not anywhere near as tired as she was. And the wolf book said the opposite.

It turns out that the alpha female of the pack takes over the pack during pregnancy. And they really don't get tired. "That's not right. How is 'she' so damn tired. She's only been awake for about twelve hours in the past five days. What is going on?" I asked under breath. I continued reading until I happened to catch the part on wolf gestation. I read it closely and it said that wolves are only pregnant for about...fifty-five to sixty-five days!? _There's no way! It's not possible!_

I grabbed a pen and paper and started adding up the times and dates about Jess's pregnancy. I looked at the result, and I couldn't believe it. It matched perfectly. Her pregnancy rate seemed to be following that of a wolfs! I sat there completely shocked. _How is this possible? This just can't be possible. But it all fits. A normal wolf would be at the same stage as her by this time. If this is true….then she'll have the birth in.._ "Honey." I was shocked out of thought and I closed the books. I turned to my wife. "Yes?" She walked in and saw the book labels. "What are you reading?" _Crap! I can't let her know, not yet._ "Oh, I'm just doing some research for when the kids get here. We still have no idea what they'll be like when they do. So I'm reading both sides to prepare for it." I lied as she looked at me funny, but smiled. "You're gonna be a great father, dear." she said as she grabbed me in a hug.

"Thanks, hon." I looked at the clock and saw that the train would be here in an hour. "Well, lets get going." I stood up, grabbed the books, and put them back in the shelves. We left the library and walked towards the station. We passed the same sandwich shop and stopped. "Lets get a few sandwiches for the train, shall we?" I asked and she nodded. "Yeah. Good idea, hon." We ordered the sandwiches and continued to the station. We got there about twenty minuets before the train was due to arrive. "I can't wait to see granny again, Den too." she stated as I turned to her. "I thought you didn't like Den." I stated and she shook her head. "There are some things about her I don't like, but we do get along now."

My mind went back to the night she got drunk. She and Den both stood in the yard and howled at the moon. I laughed at the memory and she looked at me puzzled. "Whats so funny?" I looked at her and shook my head. "Nothing. I just remember the night you got drunk and you two howled in the yard together." She face palmed and moaned. "Please don't bring that up again." I laughed even harder. "Come on, even you have to admit it was funny." She glared at me. "No, I do not! It was not funny, freak!" I could see she was getting mad, but I laughed anyway.

The train finally arrived and we boarded, taking the normal booth. The train pulled from the station and the movement caused her to get sick again. She ran to the restroom and vomited again. I walked up to her and rubbed her back. "You okay?" I asked and she moaned. "I'm getting tired of this." I sighed and pulled her hair away. "I know, hon. I know." After a minuet, she stood up and we went back to the booth. We both sat down, me looking out the window, her looking at the stuffed wolf she was holding. "Drake." I turned to her.

"Yeah, babe." She kept looking at the stuffed wolf. "What if….what if they come out as wolves? What will we do?" I sighed, put my arm around her, and pulled her close. "We've been over this already, hon. We'll still love them as our children, regardless of what they look like. As long as they don't howl in the middle of the night." I heard her snicker trying to hold back a laugh, but she still had a frown on her face. "I'm scared Drake. I'm afraid that they might not be able to live normal lives. That they'll always have to be hidden and never have friends, or start their own family." Tears were falling from her eyes. I wiped them away and held her.

"It's okay, hon. It'll be okay. We'll figure it out when the time comes. For now, lets just be happy that we're blessed with two fine children." She looked at me and smiled. "Thank you Drake." she said as she pulled me down and kissed me. "Thank you so much." She layed down with her head in my lap, and slowly fell asleep. I turned to the window and thought about what I learned in the library. _I wonder if she really is progressing at a wolfs rate. I need to discuss this with granny as soon as possible._ My thoughts trailed off as my eyes slowly closed and sleep took me away.


	13. Home Again

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Home Again

Jess POV

I woke up as the sun started rising above the passing trees and my stomach kicked again. I quickly walked to the restroom and, yet again, vomited. Now I was getting really mad. "What the hell is wrong with me?" I spoke out. "Why am I like this?" I vomited again. After a minuet, I stood up, but almost fell cause my legs almost gave out. I pulled myself up using the sink and looked in the mirror. My face was getting paler, and there were large bags under my eyes. "What is happening to me?" I mumbled in tears. "Am I dieing?" I started to cry as I heard a knock on the door.

"Honey, you okay?" I wiped the tears away and blew my nose. "Yes, I'm fine, hon." I opened the door and Drake was standing there with his arms crossed. "We're going to the doctors as soon as we arrive. This is getting dangerous. Look at your face, Jess. You're pale as hell." He reached up and pressed his hand to my forehead. "You don't have a fever, but your white as a ghost." I nodded and we went back to the booth. I took a dose a the medicine and layed down to sleep.

I woke up when I felt the train stop. "Come on, honey. Lets head to the hospital." Drake stated as he grabbed both our bags and we left the train. We walked for about a half hour to the hospital and checked in. "I'll be back, hon. I'll go get the doctor, you rest." I nodded and layed down, looking out the window.

Drake POV

I walked around until I found the doctor that was supposed to check on Jess. "Hey doctor." He turned to me. "Yes?" I walked up and shook his hand. I'm Jessica Ganters' husband." He smiled. "Oh, yes. I was on my way to look at her now." He started to walk but I stopped him. "Doc, I need you to do a blood test for pregnancy to see how far she is. And come back to 'me'. I don't want her to know, it's a surprise." I gave a fake smile and he smiled back and nodded. "Of course." We walked back to her room, and the doctor drew some blood. "Alright Mrs. Ganters. I'll be back shortly with the results."

Me and Jess kissed, then she fell asleep. After about three hours, I heard a knock on the door. She didn't wake up, so I left to meet the doctor in the hall. "Well? Is she sick?" The doctor shook his head. "No. I checked for everything, but it all came back negative. She's just fine. Her vomiting is most likely from the pregnancy. Her tiredness too." I nodded and looked to the door. "And the pregnancy?" He looked at his chart, then to me. "She's a little over five months. About twenty-one weeks." I froze as a chill ran down my back. _So...it's true then. She really is progressing at a wolfs rate._

I turned back to the doctor. "Thanks, doc. She'll be very happy." He smiled and I returned it with a fake smile. The doctor left, and I stood out in the hall. I looked at her laying on the bed asleep through the doors window, tears in my eyes. _What do I do? I don't know what to do. At this rate, she'll have the kids in less than a month. What if it kills her? I can't live without her. She's all I have left, her and the kids. What do I do?_ "Excuse me sir. Can you please sigh this release form?" I looked to the voice and saw a nurse with a clip board held to me. I wiped the tears away and took the board. "Yes, of course." I signed the papers and payed the doctors bill. "Thank you sir." She smiled and walked away.

I entered the room and woke Jess up. "Honey, time to go." She slowly sat up and yawned. "Already? What about the doctor?" I gave a fake smile. "He said just a bad stomach bug that's being made worse by the pregnancy. The medicine I bought you will help clear it up, so we don't need anything. We're good to leave. Ready to see granny?" She smiled at me and nodded. "Yes, of course hon. Lets go." We left the hospital and began the long walk to granny house. After about two hours, we finally arrived to find Den running up to us and granny on the porch smoking her pipe. "Hey granny!" I yelled and she looked up.

"Well, if it isn't the two love birds." Jess ran up to granny and gave her a big hug. "I've missed you granny." She smiled and returned the hug. "I've missed you guys too. Well, lets head inside and I'll make some tea." We followed her to the kitchen and sat down at the table. "So, how have things been granny?" I asked as she put some water on the stove. "A little slow actually. Some of the usual customers have moved away, so there aren't that many orders now. But besides that, it's been going fine. How about you two?" Me and Jess looked at each other then back. Granny turned to us when we didn't answer.

"Well." Jess started, smiling. We both pulled our rings around our necks out for her to see. She saw them, and smiled. "Well, I'll be. I'm so happy for you two, you deserve each other." Her look of happiness changed to one of confusion when she saw us smirking at her. "I'm guessing there's more?" she asked and we both nodded. Jess stood up, turned to the side, and lifted her shirt, exposing the, now much larger, bump on her stomach. "I'm pregnant, granny." We watched her jaw drop and tears come to her eyes. "You two are nothing but surprises, aren't you?" We both just grinned.

We had our tea, and Jess was tired again. "I'm going to catch a nap, hon. Can you wake me for dinner?" I smiled and nodded. "Of course honey." She kissed me and walked upstairs to the usual room we stayed in. After I heard the door close, I turned to granny. "Granny." She looked at me. "I'm not stupid. I know you noticed it." She face turned stern and she nodded. "I'm guessing you've only been married for a month, maybe two, and she looks around five to six months pregnant. Whats going on, Drake?" she asked sternly.

"I can't say for certain, but you're right. We've only been married for about two months. And she wasn't pregnant when we were last here, which was two months ago. And now she's over five months along. Something is wrong. I did some research while we were waiting in East City. You know she's part wolf right?" Granny gave a slow nod. "I looked at the differences between human and wolf pregnancies. Her constant vomiting is part of the pregnancy, but it's much too severe. And then there's the fact that she literally does nothing but sleep. She's always tired, and her face is completely pale. Follow me so far?"

She gave another nod and I sighed. "And then...I happened to catch a part on wolf gestation periods. It's only fifty-five to sixty-five days. I did the math of how fast she's progressing, and it fits." Granny was shocked at that, then turned stern again. "What are you saying Drake?" I lowered my head and sighed. "Her pregnancy is progressing at the rate of a wolfs." She gasped again. "At this rate, she'll have the birth….in less that a month." The room went dead silent. "I see." I looked up and saw that granny had her head lowered. "It makes sense now." she spoke.

"What do you mean granny?" She looked back at me. "Her vomiting and fatigue. It's because her pregnancy is going too fast for her body. It's taking all her energy, that's why she's always tired. And the fast rate of growth of the child.." "Two." I corrected and she stared at me surprised. "Twins?" she asked and I nodded. She let out a sigh. "Well, that really makes sense now. The children are growing too fast. Normally, the stomach and organs would very slowly be pushed upwards to make room for the child inside. But these children are pushing on the stomach much, much faster. That's why she always vomiting. And as I said, the growth rate is also tiring her out." Tears came to my eyes.

"Granny." She looked at me. "What are the odds of this pregnancy…..killing her?" She didn't answer at first. "I can't say, Drake. I really can't. She may have to birth with no issues at all. But then, it could also kill her….and the children." Tears poured from my eyes as I put my face in my hands, about to cry. "What?" I froze, and turned around slowly, to see Jess standing there in the doorway.

Jess POV

I stood there around the corner, listening to Drake and grannys conversation, shocked beyond belief. "What are the odds of this pregnancy…..killing her?" I silently gasped. "I can't say, Drake. I really can't. She may have the birth with no issues at all. But then, it could also kill her….and the children." My eyes went wide with total fear as I stood there, shocked from what granny just said. _Kill me? Kill the children? No…..no….please…..no._ I slowly walked around the corner. "What?" I asked as Drake and granny turned to me. "What….do you mean...granny? I'm going…..to die? Our children….may die?"

I looked and saw that Drakes and grannys eyes were flooded with tears. "I'm...sorry hon. I….I couldn't….I couldn't know….I'm sorry." He stood up from the chair and walked to the door. He opened it and stood there. "I'm sorry." he spoke, then left. I was left there in total shock. "Granny...what...do I do?" I fell to my knees and put my hands on my stomach. "What do I do? Please….tell me." Granny got out of the chair and walked to me. "You keep going dear. That's all you can do. The only thing to do is be strong for you and your family." She knelt down and grabbed me in a hug. "I...I can't. How could I do this to him? How could I have done this to him? To give him hope, then to tear it away from him?"

I was stopped by granny slapping me hard across the face. For a small woman like her, she had one mean swing. "You didn't. It's not your fault. It's no ones fault except those who did all those things to you. Don't you dare blame yourself. And don't even think for a second that he blames you. This is life. Things happen." She started to walk away, but stopped. "All you can do, is move on." And with that, she left to the back room. I sat there on the floor, trying to think of what to do. I sat there for a while, until I heard the front door open, and Drake walk in, looking at me.


	14. Our Decision

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Our Decision

Drake POV

I walked back to the house, head lowered in sorrow. I had hid the fact that she could die...and the children too, from her. I broke my trust to her, and now the pregnancy may kill her and the kids. I walked up the stairs and opened the door to find my wife sitting there where I last saw her. She looked at me, and I could see her eyes were filled with horror, and sorrow. We both stared at each other a moment, until she turned away from me. I lowered my head, closed the door, and knelt down beside her. "Jess, I'm sorry. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't want to worry you. I should have told you, and I'm sorry. All I can do is hope….that you'll forgive me."

Neither of us moved at all for the longest two minuets of my life. Finally, she reached over, grabbed my hand, and placed it on her stomach. "Their….moving again." she finally spoke and I sighed. "I'm sorry Jess. It's my fault. It's all my.." She quickly turned slapped me three times across the face. "Shut up. Just….shut up. I...I didn't marry a terrible man. I..." She looked up at me. "I married a man who would never do anything to hurt me on purpose. If this is how it's supposed to be, then so be it. But I still love you, no matter what happens. So...I'm not going to worry about it. Lets just keep going as everything will be fine. Okay?"

I looked her in the eyes with tears flowing. I finally nodded, then grabbed her in a hug. "Okay." We sat there until it became dark outside and granny walked in to start dinner. "So," she started and we turned to her. "What will you do now?" We looked at each other, nodded, then turned back to her. "We'll move on. We'll deal with this as it plays out." I answered and granny smiled. "Good. Now, I need to get supper ready." We stood up and Jess went to help granny with dinner. Suddenly, the phone started ringing. "I'll get it granny." I stated as I walked to the phone and picked up the receiver. "Rockbell Automail."

" _Drake, it's Ed."_

"Ed! It's good to hear from you. How is the Scar search going?" Ed then explained to me about them finding Scar, but then faking a 'Winry captured' scene. "Ed, I really hope you know what you guys are doing."

" _I don't like it either, but we had no choice. And we have another problem."_ He continued to explain how he fell in a mine shaft and was very nearly killed by Kimbley. "That son of a...I'll kill him myself if I ever see him again!"

" _Drake, calm down. We need to focus."_ I let out a sigh as he told me that he was heading to Central with two of Kimbleys men, that Kimbley tried to kill as well. "Alright Ed. I'll give Mustang a call on a non-military line and let him know."

" _No. I shouldn't even be talking to you. Have you heard from Al at all?"_

"No, we only just arrived."

" _And...what about Jess?"_ I turned to see if she was around, but didn't see her. "It's bad Ed. To put short...her pregnancy his progressing at a super high rate. You're gonna think I'm crazy, but if it goes how I'm think it is, she'll have the birth...in less then a month." I heard Ed gasp over the phone.

" _One month!? But that's impossible!"_

"I know, but that's whats going on. I'm gonna be out of the game for a while Ed. But I'll do what I can from here. You stay safe, you hear me?" There was a brief silence.

" _Yeah, I hear ya. I gotta go. Be careful Drake. And I hope everything turns out okay."_

"Yeah, you be careful too Ed. Bye." I hung up the phone and stood there thinking on everything that Ed told me. I finally decided not to tell granny or Jess about what Ed told me.

I walked back to the kitchen and granny turned to me. "Who was that, Drake?" I sat down at the table. "It was Ed. He was making sure we arrived safely. And he's still screwing around up north." I finished with a fake smirk on my face. Granny smiled, nodded, then turned back to dinner. "So whats the plan now hon?" Jess asked. "Well, you are not going anywhere until after the birth. Also, you diet is going to be changing as well." She turned to me confused. "To?" I chuckled. "Fruits, and high energy producing foods. We can't have you sleeping all the time. You need to move around to get some exercise." She slightly smiled and nodded. "Okay, hon."

The phone rang again. "Sigh. I got it." I got up and went to the phone. "Rockbell Automail."

" _I'm calling for Blade."_ a low and stern voice came through. I slightly twitched. "He's not here. May I take a message?"

" _Yes, tell him that his order for roast pork is ready."_ _Roast pork? And that voice, it's familiar...Wait a minuet!_ "Sig!?"

" _Yes. I have a message, from Alphonse."_

"From Al? What is it?"

" _He said that the Day of Reckoning is coming. We must prepare ourselves for it."_

"Day of Reckoning? What does he mean?"

" _He said that you would know exactly what he meant."_ I thought about it for a minuet, then it clicked. _The nation transmutation circle!_ "When?"

" _In spring. Don't know exact day. That's all I have. And tell no one. We're working on spreading the word to friends."_

"I understand. Thank you, Sig." _Click._

I hung up the phone and thought about the message. "Jess, come here a moment." I heard her footsteps as she walked up to me. "Yes?" I looked her straight into the eyes. "We have a time, for 'that' day." She looked at me confused. "'That' day?" I just looked at her and didn't say a thing. Her face suddenly turned stern as she realized what I was talking about. "When?" I looked deeper into her eyes. "Spring." She nodded slowly. "What's the plan?" she asked as I turned to the phone. "I'm not sure yet. But," I turned back to her. "We will be ready!" I said sternly and she nodded. "Right!"

"Dinners ready." granny called. We walked back to the kitchen and sat down to eat. "Drake, do you think you could chop up some firewood tomorrow?" granny asked. "Not a problem granny. How much do you need?" She turned to the wood box. "Enough to to fill the box, please." I nodded. "Sure thing. And Jess." She turned to me. "I'm sorry, but unless I say otherwise, you are not to go outside whatsoever. Understood?" She frowned, but nodded. "We can't take any risks right now. If this pregnancy can kill you, we need to do everything we can to try and prevent that." She nodded again and smiled slightly.

After dinner, Jess went upstairs to go to sleep while I helped granny clean up. "So Drake, tell me. What are the names?" she asked and I smiled. "Well, if their boys, we decided on Justin and Mathew. If their girls, then Elizebeth and Sarah." Granny smiled. "After your sisters, huh?" I froze a moment and granny noticed. "That's right. I didn't tell you yet." I mumbled. Granny looked at me. "Tell me what?" A tear came to my eye. "I can feel again granny." She gasped. "You mean.." I nodded. "I can feel everything again….but at a cost." Granny looked at me with worry and I turned to her.

"I've lost my memories of everything before I came here. Friends, family, it's all gone. I don't know who my sisters are, or my family." She gasped again and stared at me. "You...lost your memories?" she asked and I nodded. "But don't worry granny. I'm happy with the decision I made, and I'll live with it, being happy." Tears fell down my face as I smiled. Granny stared at me a minuet, then smiled. "As long as your happy, they are too." I gave a slight chuckle. "Thanks granny. I know they are." We continued cleaning up and then I heard running to the restroom. "Sigh. Not again." I mumbled. I walked up the stairs and found Jess in the restroom, vomiting.

I walked up, knelt down, and started rubbing her back. She vomited again then turned to me. "When these kids are born, I'm gonna yell their ears off for doing this to me." she coldly stated. I could see she was pissed now and all I could do was chuckle. "Well, you think this is bad? Just wait till their born and they start howling in the middle of the night." She gave a loud moan, then vomited again. "I hate you." she stated and I chuckled again. "Love you too, wolf." She turned back to me. "Shut up, freak."

After her vomiting session, she went back to bed and I walked back downstairs. I walked out to the porch and saw granny smoking her pipe, watching the stars come out. I sat down next to her and lit a cigarette. We both sat there quietly until she spoke. "Drake, let me ask you something." I turned to her. "Of course." She looked at me. "You know that she could die during the birth, along with the children. So why are you going through with this? Why are you going ahead with the pregnancy?" I turned back to the sky and sighed.

"Those are our children. They came to be because of our love for each other. Life has blessed us with them. But if we let them die to save her, then that makes us selfish parents. Parents that would rather let them die, so we could live. That is not me. And that is definitely not her. We will not be parents like that. I don't want her or the children to die. And neither does she. But we both agree that we would rather have her die, than kill our children to live. If we did that, we would be nothing more than monsters ourselves."

A cold silence fell between us for a while as granny continued to stared at me. "That's the answer I expected from you, Drake." granny finally spoke. "You are truly a good man." I turned to her and stared her in the eyes. I smiled. "Thank you granny." She smiled, then got up and walked inside. I turned back to the sky, the stars were fully lit up now. I thought about what I said for a minuet, then smiled. "And Jess is a wonderful mother." I quietly stated as a tear fell from my eye.


	15. Almost Time

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Almost Time

Jess POV

The next couple of weeks consisted of mainly me sleeping, and vomiting my guts out. It was getting very bad. My face was now almost pure white, and I was finding it harder and harder to move freely. My body was just so tired from the pregnancy. And the 'bump' that I used to have, was now a mountain. It was hard to find anything that would fit me. Drake told me that by his guess, I was around eight months now. And boy, could I feel it. Because of my fatigue and the size of my stomach, Drake had to constantly help me to the restroom every time I had to vomit, which was roughly around five to six times a day.

I woke up to him having another nightmare. He was having these nightmares at least three times a week. "Drake! Wake up!" I yelled and slapped him. It found that was the only way to get him to wake up from it. He bolted upright gripping his chest and breathing frantically. "Drake, it's okay. I'm here. Everything is fine." He turned to me and gripped me in a tight hug, as he always does after a nightmare. "Drake." He looked at me. "I have had enough! I want you to tell me want your have been having dreams about! NOW!" I demanded. He lowered his head and tears fell from him eyes.

"I can't. I just can't tell you." I slapped him and he looked at me shocked. "Shut the hell up! I'm sick of this! Stop hiding it from me and tell me what it is!" I yelled again. He started to cry and grabbed me in another hug. "You…..you…." I pushed him away and gripped hid shoulders. "Just shut up and tell me!" I was mad now, and he could see it. "You die Jess." A chill ran down my spine. "What do you mean?" I asked sternly. "You die Jess! That's what the dream is! You. Die!" He fell back onto the bed and started crying. Tears came to my eyes, to see my husband like this.

I layed down next to him and held him. "Tell me. Is it the birth?" His sobbing slowed. "No. It's something else." I looked at him. "Then what is it?" He gripped me in a hug. "We're….we're fighting. You're in wolf form fighting. And you're...stabbed. I see you fall to the ground…..dead. Just….dead." I sighed and kissed him. "It's not going to happen, dear. I wont let it, and neither will you. You'll always be.." I was stopped by a very sharp pain in my stomach. I put my hands over my stomach to ease the pain. "Jess!?" He looked at me very concerned. "I'm fine, hon. These two are NOT playing nice." I gripped my stomach, and after a minuet, the pain stopped.

"Your getting really close, hon." I glared at him. "You think!? Look at me! My damn stomach is the size of Central, you idiot!" He smiled and started laughing. I moaned. "Shut up! I hate you! Freak!" I layed back and he started to rub my stomach. "It's almost time, hon. So lets make a bet." I looked at him. "On?" He smirked. "On whether they have ears and tails or not." I layed head back down and scoffed. "Really!? You're just making fun of me and the kids." He chuckled again. "Well, I have too. After all the hell you put me through."

My head shot up as I glared at him. "The hell 'I' put you through!? Look at what these two brats did to me! I'm puking five times a day, I'm always tired, and they think it's funny to play kickboxing in my stomach! And 'you've' been through hell!? How about you 'go' to hell!? FREAK!" He started laughing like crazy now. "SHUT UP!" He kept on laughing. I gave him the 'Winry death glare', and he shut up. We heard knocking on the door. "Come in." He answered and granny walked in. "You two done bickering?" I glared at Drake and he nodded quickly.

"Good. Breakfast is ready." I smiled and nodded. "Thanks granny. We'll be down in a minuet." She nodded then closed the door. I tried to get up, but my stomach kept me pinned to the bed. "Want some help, hon." I nodded and he help me up. I sank to my knees as I had another pain shoot through my stomach. "Hon, you okay!?" I clenched my teeth and nodded. "It's getting bad." I stated through my teeth. "Hon, how about you stay here? I'll bring your food to you." I wanted to go eat at the table, but the pain was too much. "Okay, fine. Help me up." He nodded and helped me back to my feet. When I stood up, my head started spinning and I fell back down again.

"Honey, are you sure you're okay?" I slightly nodded. "I'm fine. Just a head rush." He sighed, then picked me up bridal style and set me on the bed. "You stay here. I'll be back with your food, hon." He bent down, kissed me, then left the room. I sighed and looked out the window. _It's almost time. Married for about three months, and I'm already having kids. This is ridiculous._ I heard knocking on the door and I turned to see my husband with a plate of food. "You're not going to kill me if I enter, are you?" I sighed. "I'll kill you if you don't give me my food, freak." He twitched, then walked over to me. He set the plate on the bedside table and helped me to a sitting position.

"Here you go, hon. I'm heading back downstairs. Holler if you need anything." He turned to leave, but I grabbed him and pulled him down by his shirt. "Actually, I do need something."I pulled him in and gave him a long kiss. "Okay. Now go away." He pinched his nose and sighed. "What am I going to do with you?" I glared at him. "Love me." I answered and he chuckled. "That's kinda hard to do in your current state, hon." he said with a very suggestive look. "ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT!?" I yelled as I threw a piece of toast at him. "No! I never said that!" He ran out of the room as I chuckled. "Freak." I mumbled, and started eating my breakfast.

After I finished eating, I layed back down and tried to sleep. But that sharp stomach pain hit me again. I gripped my stomach and balled up. _Damn it! They're getting worse! Damn this hurts!_ After a minuet, the pain let up and I slowly relaxed. I thought for a minuet, and decided to soak in the tub for a bit. I slowly sat up, then stood on the floor. I had to use the walls for balance as I made my way to the restroom. I almost fell over as my stomach decided to kick again. I walked as quickly as I could to the toilet and started vomiting. "Why do you guys have to do this to me?" I mumbled under breath to my stomach.

While over the toilet, I reached over and turned the water on to let it heat up. I heard footsteps come up the stairs. "Honey, are you in there?" I looked at the door. "No. It's the boogy man. Who do you think it is, you idiot?" I retorted. I heard him let out a sigh. "May I come in?" My stomach kicked and I vomited again. "Honey!? I'm coming in." The door slowly opened and he walked in. Why didn't you yell for me?" I looked at him. "I didn't have to vomit, I just wanted to soak in the tub for a bit to ease the pains. My stomach acted up after I got here."

"Okay. But why didn't you call for me to help you?" I glared at him. "I can still do things on my own, hon. I'm not paralyzed you know." He let out a sigh as I vomited again. "Damn kids. I'm gonna make life a living hell for them, doing this to me." I coldly stated as he chuckled. "Shut up. Why the hell do you have to be so mean? These brats take after you." He really started laughing and chuckled as well, after realizing what I said.

He turned the water off, helped me undress, and into the tub. "Ahhhh. Nice and hot. Heeeeaveeeenn." I said in a sigh and he chuckled. I layed there while he sat on the toilet as a seat. "Jess." I looked at him. "Yes, dear." He sighed. "I am not going to lie. There are times where I truly hate you." I looked at him shocked. "For example, your damn snoring, and you slapping me in your sleep." I blushed. "I'm sorry. I can't help it." I whined. "But then," he continued. "There are just countless things that I love about you. Your smile, your warmth, your crazy personality." He leaned over and kissed my stomach. "The kids you've blessed me with. And of course, you."

Tears came to my eyes and I looked to him. "Well I hate you for always making fun of me." He chuckled. "I'm your husband. It comes with the job." I face palmed and moaned. "Freak." He turned to me and smiled. "Damn wolf." He leaned down and we kissed. He stood up and stretched. "I'll be back, hon. I'm gonna go help granny clean up. Will you be okay?" I glared at him. "Will you shut up and stop treating me like a damn child!?" He laughed and I moaned. "Yes, dear. I'll be back in a bit. Call if you need help." I splashed water at him. "Just shut up and go, freak!"

He smiled, kissed me once more, then left. I turned back forward and closed my eyes, relaxing in the hot water. "Sigh. I swear. That man and these kids are going to be the death of me." I mumbled under water. I sat up in the water and started bathing myself, humming the song Drake sang to me months ago. Once done, I slowly got out of the tub, dried myself off and changed into the clothes Drake brought me. My stomach kicked and turned to the toilet to vomit again. I looked at my stomach. "You two brats." I mumbled, then threw up again.

After a minuet, my stomach calmed down and I stood up. My stomach started hurting again, but not that bad. I waited till the pain subsided, then opened the door. "Honey, you okay?" I heard Drake call from downstairs. I moaned. "YES! NOW STOP PESTERING ME, FREAK!" I yelled through the house. "Okay. Sorry I asked, wolf." I moaned again. _I'm going to kill him one of these days. I swear it!_ I slowly walk back along the walls to the bedroom and towards the bed. I got about halfway through the room, until my stomach hurt again. I stood there waiting for the pain to go away.

"Oh, yeah. Real soon now." I mumbled. The pain left and I started again for the bed. But as soon as I got there, A very, very sharp pain hit me again. I gripped my stomach to ease it. I felt something warm run down my leg and as I looked, I saw a puddle of clear liquid on the floor. My eyes went wide as I realized what the liquid was. "Oh shit." I mumbled. "Drake!" No answer. "DRAKE!" After a second, I heard footsteps run up the stairs and towards the room. "Whats wrong, honey!?" he asked as he barged in. I turned to him. "It's…..time."


	16. New Life

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

New Life

Drake POV

Jess just got done yelling at me from upstairs about asking if she was okay. I turned to granny, who was cleaning up from breakfast. "I swear she is going to kill me one of these days." Granny just chuckled. "Yes. I'm sure she will." she flatly stated and I moaned. "Wow. Thanks for the comfort." I mumbled. I started washing dishes as granny walked to light her pipe. "DRAKE!" I dropped a plate on the floor and heard it break. I ran as fast as I could up the stairs to the room. I rammed the door open. "Whats wrong, honey!?" I looked at the floor to see some clear liquid in a puddle around her feet.

I looked up to her face and she was clinching her stomach. "It's…..time." she softly spoke and I froze. "T..ti...time!? NOW!?" She looked at me with a death glare. "No! Last week you idiot! YES! NOW!" I stood there shocked for a minuet, then reality hit me. "GRANNY! GET UP HERE QUICK!" I yelled as I ran to my wife. I picked her up and set her on the bed. I heard small footsteps run up the stairs and to the room. "What is it!? Granny called and I turned to her. "It's time, granny!" She gasped and ran over to us. "Get some boiling water and some towels!" she ordered. I nodded and ran to the stove to put water on boil.

I put the water on, then stopped to breath a moment. "Okay. Just calm down. It's going to be okay. Just calm down." I told myself under breath. I heard Jess scream in pain and that sent my nerves off again. "Towels!" I said aloud. I ran back upstairs to the towel closet and grabbed all the towels there were. I ran back to the room and set them on the floor. "Honey! Are you okay!? Talk to me!" I rambled and she glared at me. "SHUT UP!" she yelled and I backed up in fear. "Hurry and get that water! We need it now!" granny ordered. "Uh, yes ma'am!" I stuttered and ran back out the room. I could hear Jess screaming even louder in pain as I reached the stove, water not boiling yet. "Damn it! Hurry up and boil!" I blurted.

After a few minuets, the water began to boil and I grabbed a large bowl to put it in. I poured the water into the bowl and carefully carried it upstairs. I walked into the room and I saw that Jess was in a LOT of pain. She was clenching her teeth and screaming through them. "Drake, keep her calm!" granny yelled to me. "Yes granny!" I answered and ran to Jess's side. I grabbed her hand in mine and she squeezed it with her inhuman strength. "Ahhhh! Honey, you're crushing my hand!" She glared at me. "SHUT UP! THIS SHIT HURTS, FREAK!" I twitched in pain as she squeezed harder on my hand. "Drake, I need more boiling water!" granny ordered. I pried my hand out of her grip and ran back to the kitchen.

I put more water on the stove and waited for it to boil. "Calm down, Drake. Calm down. She's going to be fine. The kids will be fine. Everything's.." "AHHHH!" Jess's yelling shot me from thought. I paced in front of the stove, waiting for the water to boil. I waited for what seemed like fifty hours before it finally came to a boil. That's when I realized that I forgot the bowl. I ran back upstairs and into the room to find my wife glaring at me. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!" I was completely frozen it fear of her glare. "Drake! The water!" granny yelled. I came out of my shock and grabbed the bowl.

I took it back downstairs and filled it up again. "Drake! Get up here! NOW!" granny yelled. I grabbed the bowl and walked up the stairs and into the room. I walked over and set the bowl next to granny. "Get back over there with her and keep her calm!" I nodded and walked back over to my wife. Before I could make a move, she grabbed my hand and started squeezing it. "Ahhh! Jess! Let go!" She glared at me. "TO HELL WITH YOU!" she clearly stated. I sat there holding her hand, or she just crushed mine, and tried to talk to her. "It's okay hon. It's going to be just fine. I promise." She glared at me again. "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE, FREAK!" I shivered in pure fear.

Suddenly, Jess let out a HUGE scream in pain. After a second, I heard the very small crying of a child flood the room. "It's a girl!" granny yelled as she held a small baby in her hands. "Jess, did you hear that? It's a girl." She turned to me and smiled. "Elizebeth." she said amongst tears of joy. I grabbed my child from granny and placed her in a small box with blankets in it. "Hello….Elizebeth." I said as the child continued to cry. I looked at her with all the love in the world. My first daughter, my first child, safe and breathing fine.

Again, Jess let out another huge scream of pain. I ran back to her and held her hand. Keep in mind that I'm not really holding 'her' hand, she's just crushing 'mine'. She screamed as loud as she could, and a second later, there was another small cry. "Another girl!" granny called. Again I looked at Jess and she smiled again. "Sarah." she softly spoke and I kissed her forehead. I walked over to granny and took the child from her. "Hello, Sarah." I spoke softly and placed her in the box next to her sister. _I have children. Two daughters. Alive, and well. I have….a family!_ I started to cry as tears flowed from my face.

I walked over to Jess and held her hand. "Two girls, hon. We have two strong, healthy girls." She looked at me and smiled, tears flowing from her eyes as well. "Our family, honey." she spoke. We stared at each other for moments, but it was interrupted by her screaming in pain again. "Jess! Whats wrong!?" I yelled. "She's not done yet! There's another!" granny spoke. Me and Jess looked at each other then to granny. "ANOTHER!?" We yelled, or...Jess screamed. Granny nodded and Jess started to scream in pain even more. She crushed my hand again and let out a very, very, VERY loud scream.

After a very long minuet, we heard the small cry of another child. "It's a boy!" granny called. I looked at Jess and she looked at me. "Justin?" I asked and she nodded. "Justin." I walked over to granny and took the boy from her. I about dropped to me knees from the pure joy. I looked him square in the eyes. "Hello, Justin." He stopped crying and stared at me. We just stood there looking at each other for the longest time. I walked over and put him in the box next to his two sisters.

I walked back over to Jess and held her hand. We both then looked at granny. "There's not another one, is there?" we asked in unison. But granny shook her head. "No. You're all done. Congratulations." she said with tears flowing from 'her' eyes now. I looked at Jess and she grabbed my shirt. "YOU!" she yelled then pulled me into a kiss. "Thank you." She said softly. I smiled and kissed her again. "Would you like to see your kids now? Or would you like to crush my hand a little more?" I asked. She looked down and saw my red hand. She let go and looked at me. "I'm so sorry, honey! Please, I'm sorry!"

I waved her off. "No need. You gave me three beautiful children. I'll let it slip this time." She smiled and kissed me again. "Where are they?" I smiled, stood up, and walked over to the box that our children were laying in. "Which ones do you want?" I asked jokingly. She looked at me sternly. "All of them!" I chuckled and picked up Justin and Sarah. I handed them to her, then picked up Elizebeth. I knelt down next to Jess and held Elizebeth. "Honey, I like the name Elizebeth. But how bout we call he Liz for short?" Jess looked at me and smiled.

I don't care, as long as they are alive and healthy." she stated. I leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Well, as much as I hate it, I have to call Mustang and let him know. I'll take Liz with me." Jess glared at me and I glared back. "Mine!" Jess looked at me shocked, then laughed. "No! Ours!" she retorted. I laughed and kissed her again. "You're right." I looked at my children. "Ours." I left the room with Liz in my arms and picked up the phone. I died the number to Mustangs office and it rang.

" _Mustang."_

"Colonel. It's Blade. I need you to contact me as soon as your able."

" _Sigh. Fine. Stay by the phone. I'll call you in a moment." Click_

I hung the phone up and snickered. "That idiot is going to be shitting kittens when he hears about his." I mumbled. I waited for about fifteen minuets, and the phone rang. "Rockbell Automail."

" _It's me. What do you want?"_

"Well, just thought I'd let you know something."

" _Sigh. What?"_

"Jess just got done giving birth."

"… _.You're kidding!"_

"Nope! And that's not all."

" _Sigh. What now!?"_

"We had three kids, not two."

"… _..You're joking!"_

"Nope!"

" _Perfect! Now I have a damn wolf pack to worry about!"_

"Yup! Your life just became a living hell."

" _I can figure. No matter. Congratulations."_

"Thanks Colonel. And by the way..."

" _...What?"_ My face turned stern.

"Did you get 'the message'?"

" _Yes. You better be ready for it! And Blade."_

"Yes sir?"

" _Again…..congratulations." Click._

I hung up the phone and smiled. I chuckled as I walked back up to the room. I saw my wife holding my son and other daughter in her arms. She looked at me. "So? What did he say?" I shook my head. "He said congratulations." I walked closer to her and whispered in her ear. "And he got the message about 'the day'. He said to be ready for it." I backed away. She stared at me with stern eyes and nodded heavily. "We will be." She stated. I nodded back, then smiled. "Enough of that for right now." I walked over and sat next to her. "Right now, this time is about us. Our family."

We both kissed and watched our children sleep in our arms. We sat there for a long time before I spoke up again. "You plan to have any more?" I jokingly asked. She grabbed my chin and forced me to look at her. "You go to hell, freak! I'm DONE!" Then all three of the kids started crying. I looked at my wife with agitated eyes. "I agree." We kissed again, then sat and rocked our children to sleep.


	17. Our Children

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Our Children

Jess Pov

Two days had passed since I gave birth to my three wonderful children. Me and Drake woke up to the three of them crying in the next room. I moved to get up, but my husband stopped me. "Oh no you don't. My turn." He got up before I could say anything and left the room. I layed back down and smiled. _He loves them so much. They are just so lucky to have a father like him._ Tears came to my eyes as sleep took me back. I woke up in the morning to the kids crying again. Drake didn't wake up, so I sneaked out of bed and into the kids room.

"Well good morning guys." I said in a sweet voice as I walked to the 'boxes' that they were in. We didn't have time to get a proper set of cribs for them, so we had to resort to using boxes with lots of blankets in them. I picked up Liz and Justin, then sat down and began feeding them. I looked at them and just smiled as they ate. Tears were coming to my eyes. I leaned down and kissed them and mumbled under my breath. "I guess your daddy won the bet, huh?"

It turned out that all three of them had wolf ears and tails. Elizebeth, or Liz, had the same colored hair as I did, and blue eyes. Her ears and tail were brown with a hint of red streaks. She somehow seemed to be the first one to always wake up. _She's going to be the problem child, I promise._ Justin on the other hand, was a little odd. He had pure white hair and blue eyes, like his father, but like ice. His ears and tail were white as well. He seemed to be the calm one. Whenever me or my husband walked in to the girls crying, he wasn't.

Now Sarah was a different matter. She had yellow eyes like mine. Her hair was a bright, solid red. But her ears and tail were a flat black. It was like we got all the colors of the rainbow in our kids. We could only laugh at the matter. I heard the door open and my husband walked in. "Yawn. You cheated." he stated. "How so?" He looked at me. "You stole my heart once. And now you're using the kids to steal it again. You cheater." I chuckled and watched as he picked up Sarah. "Hey big girl. Good morning." He said in a sing song voice.

I looked at Liz. "This one is going to be trouble." He looked at me. "Why do you say that?" I stared at him. "Because she's the one who wakes the others." He chuckled. "Hey, at least the don't howl…..yet." I moaned. "True." He walked over to me and sat on the floor, feeding Sarah through a bottle. "Our quiet days are over, wolf. Now, it'll be nothing but chaos." I moaned again. "Don't remind me." He chuckled and leaned Sarah over his shoulder, patting her back. "You do owe me you know." I looked at him confused. "For?" He looked at me with a smirk.

"The bet. They did come out with ears and tails after all." I twitched. "You remembered..." I mumbled and he smiled. "Of course. How could I forget?" I sighed. "What do you want?" I moaned. "Oooh. How about.." I looked at him a little concerned for my life. "Ten more kids?" I just GLARED at him. "Oh. Hell. NO! I am NOT going trough that again. To hell with you!" The kids started crying and I tried to sooth them. "Now look what you did. You scared the children." he said playfully. I moaned. "I just HATE you." He chuckled. Love you too, wolf."

We finally got the kids to sleep and walked downstairs to the kitchen. We sat down at the table and granny gave us breakfast. "Sleep well you two?" she asked. We looked at each other and frowned. "Not really." we said in unison. Granny chuckled. "Well, with three kids, I could imagine. We glared at her. "No. You couldn't." We spoke, again, in unison. Granny just chuckled. "Well, have some breakfast you two. I'll get some coffee started." We ate our breakfast in peace. But that changed when the front door opened. We all looked to the doorway, and Ed came around the corner. "Ed!?" I hollered. He just raised his hand and waved.

Drake POV

"Hey guys, granny." Me and Jess left the table and walked up to Ed. She encased him in a hug, as I just shook his hand. "Hey Ed. It's good to see you my friend." He smiled as Jess let go of him. "You're just in time Ed. I just finished making breakfast." granny stated as she walked up. "And I can see you have still failed to get taller. Ed twitched. "Uh oh. Here we go." I moaned.

"WHO DID YOU CALL AN ULTRA HYPER MIDGET?!"

"You're the size of a flea."

"YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A MINIATURE WITCH!"

"Pipsqueak."

"DAMN MINI HAG!"

Jess walked up and punched Ed in the face. "SHUT UP! YOU'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!" she yelled. Then we all heard the babies crying. "Nice job you two. We just got them to sleep and you 'had' to wake them up." I stated. Ed looked at me shocked. "Wait! You mean..." Me and Jess nodded. "Yup. Two days ago." Eds jaw dropped and we all laughed. "Would you like to meet them Ed?" Jess asked. Ed turned to her and nodded. "Of course." We all walked upstairs to the kids room and opened the door.

Jess walked over and picked up the girls. "This is Elizebeth, Liz for short, and Sarah. Ed looked at them closely, then smiled. "I'm happy for you two." I walked over and picked up Justin. Ed looked at me and his jaw dropped again. "Three!?" he yelled. Me and Jess chuckled then nodded. "Yup. Three." I answered and walked over to Ed. "Here you go. Say hi." I placed Justin in his arms and he cowered a little. "Relax Ed. He may be part wolf, but he wont bite." I jokingly stated. Ed looked in Justins eyes, and he in his. They both stared at each other for the longest time.

"So? What do you think?" Jess asked. Ed smiled. "Their great guys. I really am happy for you." We heard foot steps come from the hall. "Fullmetal, are you alright?" A man walked around the corner. "Who the hell are you!?" I demanded and the man was about to pull a gun. "You even think about it, and I'll slit your throat!" I warned but Ed stopped us both. "Hey, hold on! He's with me Drake!" I relaxed a bit, but then realized who he was. "Wait a minuet! You're one of Kimbleys men!" Jess gasped and turned to shield our kids from him. "Drake! Relax! I said he's with me! He's not with Kimbley!"

"That's right. We have nothing to do with him, not anymore." I growled, but held my anger. "Just a warning to you. You try anything around my family, I will KILL you!" The man nodded and relaxed. "Trust me, we he no intention to harm you, or your family." Then another face came around the corner. "What the hell is going on in here?" he asked. I looked at him and saw who it was. "Ling!?" He looked at me and grinned. "Nope! It's Greed. Nice to meet ya. Nice wolf pack you got there." I growled again. "Drake, easy. They're all with me. You can trust them." Ed stated. I looked at him, then to the men. "Fine. But you keep them away from my children, you hear me Ed!?"

He nodded then handed Justin back to me. "They'll stay away. I promise." I walked over and put Justin down. "Jess. Stay here with the kids. I gotta talk to Ed. Okay?" She nodded, and I left the room. We walked downstairs and sat at the kitchen table. "So, whats going on Ed?" I asked. "Well he needs.." I turned to Ling, or Greed, or whatever. "I wasn't talking to you. So shut up!" I demanded, and he gave me an evil look. I turned back to Ed. "I came back here cause my arm needed some maintenance. We're getting ready for….'the promised day'." I gave him a stern look and nodded. I turned to the other men. "I'm sorry about that up there. But after all me and my wife have been through, I'm sure you can understand why I was a bit hostile."

They all nodded in understanding. Jess walked back down the stairs and joined us at the table. "So whats the plan Ed?" she asked. He explained to us everything that happened up north in full detail and that the 'promised day' was very soon. "Alright. Me and Jess can't leave yet cause she's still recovering. But we'll join you in a few days time. We'll leave the kids here with granny." I turned to granny. "Is that okay granny?" She smiled and nodded. "Of course. It gives me time to spend with my new great grand children." I chuckled then turned back to Ed. "Well, then it's settled."

We all nodded in agreement and stood up. "Well. I guess we'll be having plenty of guests tonight. I better go to the store and get some things. Would you like to come Jess?" granny asked. Jess looked at her and nodded. "Of course granny. Will you be okay with the kids, honey?" I looked at her and smiled. "Yes. Go have some fun. You've been stuck here for the past two weeks. You need to get out." She smiled, walked over, and kissed me. "And you!" She turned to the three strange men. "Touch my kids and I'll kill you!" She gave them a glare and they all shivered, except Ling, or Greed, ahh I give up!

"Wow! Now that's my kind of woman!" he said as I turned to him. "She's mine! You touch her and 'I'll' kill you.!" I coldly stated. He just laughed. "Fine by me. Just let me know if you get tired of her." I turned to Ed. "Can I just kill him now and be done with it?" Ed snickered. "Yeah. Good luck with that." Jess started laughing. "No. You can't have me. I belong to him and no one else. Besides, I don't think you could handle me." Now I snickered. "I don't think anyone can handle you." I was shut up by a slap to the face. "Whats that supposed to mean!? FREAK!"

Everyone cowered, including, I'll just go with Greed, when they saw her death glare me. "Nothing. Nothing at all, honey." I said, cowering on the floor. "Good." she said and left the house with granny. Greed turned to me. "I take back what I said. You can keep her." Everyone else nodded in agreement. I sighed. "Damn wolf." "I HEARD THAT!" she yelled from outside. "How does she do that!" Ed asked, shocked. I turned to him. "She's a damn wolf! What do you expect!?"

"I HEARD THAT TOO!" We all moaned.


	18. Household Chaos

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Household Chaos

Drake POV

Granny and Jess left for town while the rest of us continued to sit at the table. I turned to the two men that were with Ed. "So, who are you guys?" One was a large, brawny man with black hair and wicked sideburns. "I'm Darius." he spoke. The other wore glasses, had golden yellow hair, and a creepy handlebar mustache. "And I'm Heinkel." he finished. I shook both of their hands. "Well, I owe ya for saving Eds life. Thanks. My names Drake, and the crazy woman is my wife, Jessica." They both looked at each other, then back at me.

"That wolf is your wife?" Heinkel asked and I slightly froze. I gave him a stern look. "How did you know she was a wolf?" Darius scoffed. "We can smell her." I was very confused. "Smell her!?" They both nodded. "We're chimeras, like her." I place my chin in my hand. "I see. That makes sense. It explains why she was about to go crazy back in the room. She must have smelled you too. So, what did they mix you two with?"

"I'm part gorilla, and Heinkels part lion." Darius answered and I chuckled. "It suits you. You do look like a gorilla." Ed started snickering and the two were starting to get upset. I stood up, then the rest did. "Well, I'm going to take a nap in the kids room. And welcome home Ed." He nodded and I walked upstairs to the room my children were in. I walked in and over to the three little wolves to see them sleeping peacefully. Sarah had kicked her blanket off, so I placed it back over her, and kissed her head.

I sat down in the chair next to the kids and dozed off. I was woken back up by screaming in the house. I quickly ran out the room, knife in hand, and saw a strange man in from of Winrys old room. I sneaked up behind him, pulled his head back, and held the knife to his neck. Darius and Heinkel were right behind me holding guns to anothers head.

"Make a move, and you're dead!" I coldly stated to the man I had. "Drop your guns!" Darius followed, but immediately yelled out when Den bit him on the ass. Greed came up and pulled Den of of Darius. "What the hell is going on up here?" he asked. Darius turned back to the other man and was surprised. "Hey! I know you guys! You're from Briggs!" I was slightly shocked at that, so I looked past the man I was holding and saw…. "Winry!?" "Drake!?" we spoke in unison. I also saw Ed sitting in a chair next to Winry, completely confused. "Ed! What the hell is going on!?" I yelled. Winry turned to him and a minuet later, she had 'that' look. "Uh oh!" I mumbled. I quickly let the man go and backed up around the corner.

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Winry yelled and slugged all of them with a wrench. After a second, I peeked around the corner. "Uh, is it safe yet?" She glared at me, then Ed, wrench at the ready. She stood there for a moment, then relaxed. "I was worried about you two." she spoke softly. I slowly entered the room. "Same here Winry." I said as I gave her a hug. "Yeah, I was worried about you too. Wheres Al? I thought he was with you." Ed finally spoke. Winry gasped and pushed me away. "Als at the train station with Miles. It's leaving soon, but you guys can make it if you hurry."

Ed ran to the door, but stopped. "Whats wrong? Don't you guys want to see him?" Ed clenched his fist. "Well, I'm a fugitive right now. I cant risk being seen." Ed answered and I put my hand on Winrys shoulder. "And I cant leave yet because of the kids." Winry froze, then looked at me completely shocked. "The…..kids!?" she slowly asked and I nodded. "Yeah. Two days ago. Wanna see em?" She didn't answer, she just stood there. "What do you mean Drake? She had the kids….already!?" I nodded again and tears came to her eyes. She gripped me in a hug then pushed me away. "Take me to them now!" she demanded.

"Okay, okay. Come on." We walked over the mens unconscious bodies and into the kids room. I could hear Liz crying through the door, but not the other two. We walked in and I picked up Liz and Sarah. "My daughters. Elizebeth, and Sarah." I walked to Winry and let her take Sarah and Ed took Liz. Tears were flowing from Winrys eyes. "Their so adorable Drake. I'm so happy right now." she spoke as I walked over and picked up Justin. "And my son. Justin." Winry stared at me for the longest time. "Three!?" she about yelled and I nodded. "Yup. Three."

Ed was snickering as Winry just continued to stare at me. "I'm so happy for you, but I also feel sorry for you." she said jokingly and Ed chuckled. "You have no idea, Winry. The last two weeks of Jess's pregnancy were pure hell. Her temper rivaled yours." Ed glared at me. "How the hell is that possible?" Winry glared at him and I rose my brow. "You forget that she's a wolf. And she went through that pregnancy, carrying three kids, in only two and a half months. You do the math." Winry turned her gaze to me. "Two and a half months!? What do you mean Drake!?" she demanded.

"Sigh. Long story. And I really don't want to get into it right now. As long as the kids are alive, I don't care." Winry smiled and nodded, then turned back to Sarah. She rocked her in her arms while Ed rocked Liz. "And that reminds me." I said and they both looked at me. "Me and Jess discussed it. We want you two to be the godparents." Their faces both lit up and tears came to both of their eyes. "Of course Drake. I would be happy to." Winry said and Ed nodded. We stood there holding the kids until they all fell asleep.

"I see they got the ears and tails from their mother. And their hair colors are wild." Ed spoke and I chuckled. "Yeah, tell me about it." Winry bent down and kissed Sarah on the head. "Their just beautiful Drake. I'm just so happy for you two." Winry stated and I smiled. "Thanks Winry. Wanna switch out?" She nodded and we switched children, her now holding Justin. "Oh my god! His hair is amazing!" she said surprised. "Yeah, wait till you see his eyes. And he's the calm one. Liz is the trouble maker, and Sarah is a mix of the two." Winry started to laugh, but held back as not to wake Justin.

"Winry?" We all turned to see granny and Jess in the doorway. Winry smiled. "Hey granny." Then she saw Jess and walked over to her. "Hi Jess. I'm so happy for you. Congratulations." Jess smiled and looked at Justin. "Yeah. Thank you." Winry moved to give Justin to her, but Jess stopped her. "Oh no. You take your time. Did Drake tell you about the godparents?" Winry smiled again and nodded. "Thank you." They gave each other a light hug, then we put the kids down for a nap.

We walked downstairs and sat at the table while granny, Jess, and Winry worked on dinner. We heard Liz start to cry, and a minuet later, the rest followed. Me and Jess both face palmed and looked at each other. "I told you she was the trouble maker!" Jess stated and everyone else laughed. "I know. And I believe you. I'll take care of it, hon. Wanna help Ed?" He nodded and we both stood up. "I'm coming too." Winry said and followed us up the stairs to the kids room.

"I get Justin." Winry demanded, and Ed grabbed Liz. "So this is the trouble maker?" I gave a heavy nod as I picked up Sarah. "Most of the time. The rest, it's Sarah." We all walk back down stairs and got the bottles for the kids. We sat down on the couch and fed them. "Aw. Look at the cute trio. Such a tear jerking moment." Greed teased and we all stared at him. "Shut up!" we all three said in unison and he laughed. After about five minuets, the kids were done eating and we carried them back upstairs to their room. "So. Hows the night watch on them?" Winry asked jokingly and I glared at her.

"It's a nightmare. If one is awake, they're all awake. But at least they don't howl…..yet." I spoke the last word in a moan. "Howl?" Winry asked and looked back at her. "Remember when I told you about the night Jess got drunk?" Winry thought about it for a minuet, then chuckled. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Now we all were chuckling as we left the room and back to the kitchen. "Just in time. Dinner is ready." granny said as we sat down.

Ling began to explain his story of why he wasn't working with 'Father' and the rest of the homunculi and how he came to be traveling with Ed. He then told us that Ed needed work on his automail and that was why they were there. Granny looked at Ed, then to Winry. "Give him a look after dinner. It's your craftsmanship after all. I'm not comfortable tinkering with it." Winry gave her a nod then looked at Ed, a little too much. I noticed and gave a slight grin.

"WAAHHH!"

Me and Jess's heads fell on the table in unison. "Damn wolves." she moaned and I looked up at her. "Damn 'wolf'." I retorted and she glared at me. "Freak."

"Cheap fur coat!"

"Crazy metal head!"

"Runt of the litter!"

"FREAK!"

"You already said that. So I win. Your turn." I said and she slammed her head back on the table. "I hate you." she moaned and got up from the table. Everyone started laughing like crazy. "I'll help Jess." Winry said then stood up. As Jess walked by she grabbed my shirt and pulled me to her face. "You ever get me pregnant again, I WILL KILL YOU!" she set me down and walked to the kids room. Everyone started laughing again but my face was filled with fear. "You think she's kidding. But she meant every damn word of it."

Ed looked at everyone and nodded quickly. "He's telling the truth. Whatever you do, don't ever piss her off." Ed warned. "She's a woman. What can she do?" Darius asked and I glared at him. "She's a damn wolf, you idiot! She'll kill you." "I HEARD THAT!" she yelled through the house. I dropped my face onto the table. "When am I ever going to learn to keep my mouth shut?" I mumbled and everyone else laughed again.


	19. Planning

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Planning

Jess POV

I walked upstairs to the kids room, Winry right behind me. "Can I take Sarah this time?" She asked and I smiled. "Your the godmother, you don't have to ask. If you want to hold them, then do so. But you wake them, you're getting them back to sleep." She smiled as we entered the room and walked to the kids. "At least you can tell them apart really easy." Winry stated and I chuckled. "True." I picked up Liz and Justin, and Winry grabbed Sarah. "So tell me, how in the world did you have them in only three months?" she asked.

I explained to her about my pregnancy progressing at the rate of a wolfs, and that I was constantly vomiting like crazy. "I feel bad for you, Jess. It must hard been hard on you two." I chuckled and looked at her. "You have no idea. You should have seen this size on my stomach at the end." Winry chuckled as I began feeding Liz and Justin. Winry paced around the room while feeding Sarah from a bottle. "You went through so much while in that lab, Jess. All that pain and torture, no family, nothing. Then your crazy pregnancy. But looking at the result, I say it was well worth it." Winry stated and I smiled. I looked at the two kids in my arms and tears came to my eyes.

"Yes. Your right. It was all well worth it." Winry looked at me with a smirk and I looked at her. "What?" Her smirk got bigger. "Would you ever want more?" I glared at her. "You really think I would want to go through that hell again?" She chuckled and looked at Sarah. "Well, after seeing the end result, don't you think that it is worth the craziness?" I looked back at the kids in my arms and smiled. "Yeah, you're right again. But there is no way in hell I'm doing that again anytime soon." We both chuckled as the kids finished eating.

We set them back down in their 'beds', and left the room. "So, Winry. Are you back to stay?" She turned back to me and nodded. "Yeah. Why?" I stopped in the hallway and lowered my head. "Me and Drake are leaving soon." Winry looked at me with worry. "What? Why? What about the kids?" I looked back at her. "You know the promised day is almost here, Winry. As soon as I recover, me and Drake are getting back in the fight. We planed to leave the kids with granny. But now that you're here, they'll have their godmother to watch over them." Winry had tears coming to her eyes.

"You would leave them so soon?" I sighed. "Winry, if the enemy is not stopped, it wont matter. If they succeed, they will die. I am not going to sit by when I can do something. It pains me to have to leave them, but as long as they will be safe, I'll do what it takes. I'll do anything for their safety." Winry slowly walked up and grabbed me in a hug. "I'm proud of you, Jess. I'll protect them with my life, and so will granny." She pushed me away and stared into my eyes. "But I better not end up becoming their mother. You better come back to them, Drake too. Don't let the day you leave be the last time they ever see you." I smiled and grabbed her into another hug. "Thank you Winry. Thank you."

Drake POV

I helped granny clean dinner up, then walked outside for a smoke. Ed had gone upstairs so Winry could work on his limbs. Greed walked out and stood on the porch next to me. "So. You married a wolf and had litter of pups, huh?" I chuckled then put my cigarette out. "Yeah, I sure did. And I'm happy with it." He turned to me. "So whats your plan now? You plan to leave them and join us, or stay here?" I turned to him. "Jess is still recovering from the birth. But once she's healed, we'll be joining up with you guys." He gave a sly grin. "Sounds good. I could always use a wolf in my army." I chuckled. "If you think you can handle her, be my guest." We both laughed and silence fell on us.

"Greed." He turned to me. "Ling is still inside there, isn't he? And please tell me the truth." He frowned and looked to the yard. "Yeah. That annoying prince is still there." I turned to him. "I can guess you don't like him very much. But can I ask a personal favor from you?" He turned back to me brow raised. "Can you two switch out. I just want to speak with him. Five minuets is all I'm asking. Please." He scoffed and looked back at the road. He didn't say anything for a while. He finally sat down and sighed.

"Fine. Five minuets. And you better not try anything." I held my hand to him. "I swear it that I wont, and neither will he." He grinned and took my hand. "Heey! Hows it going Drake? I haven't seen you since we got out of that monsters stomach." he said in a cheery voice and I chuckled. "Yup, you're Ling. How you been? Besides the body snatch thing." He smiled and nodded. "Well, besides that, I guess it's been okay. And what about you? I see you have a family now." I smiled and lowered my head. "Yeah. I married the wolf. And now we have three great kids. Their a nuisance sometimes though." He chuckled.

"I bet. Just one was bad enough, and now there's four." We both laughed. "It's good to talk to you again Ling. I have to admit, you are annoying, but you're a good friend." He smiled more and placed his hand on my shoulder. "You as well Drake. I'm happy for you and your family. You deserve it." I smiled. "Thanks. I guess I do." Suddenly, Ling flinched and I looked at him. "You okay?" He put his hand on his head. "Yeah. Greed says time is up." I sighed and offered my hand. "We'll see each other again Ling. I know it." He smiled, took my hand, and shook it. "Yes, we will."

He flinched again. "Annoying prince. All sappy and shit." Greed spoke. "As much as I don't like you taking over his body, thanks Greed." He looked at me. "Yeah, yeah. You can consider it a gift." He stood up and walked inside. I looked back at the road and just sat there. After a while, I got up and walked inside to the table where Darius and Heinkel were. "Hey guys." Darius looked up from the news paper he was reading. "Hey." I sat down and looked at them. "I have a question for you guys."

"Yeah?" I let out a sigh. "When you guys were in the lab being turned into chimeras, were there any others there as well, besides the other two that were with Kimbley?" They turned back to each other. "I don't remember seeing any others besides us." Heinkel answered first. "Me neither. I think it was only us four." Darius finished, turning back to me. "I see." Darius rose a brow. "Why do you ask?" I sighed again. "Just wondering." At that moment, Ed and Winry walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. "We're heading out guys." I turned to him. "Where are you heading?"

"We're heading to Kanama. It's a slum on the outskirts of Central. I'm heading there speak with the bastard." I looked at him confused for a second. "Bastard? You mean your dad, Hohenheim?" I asked and he nodded. "Alright. Me and Jess are going to wait here a couple more days. We'll meet up with you guys there." Ed nodded again. We pounded fists and they walked out the door. Everyone went to say goodbye, but I walked up to my kids room with Jess. We entered the room and stopped in front of our children.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Jess?" She had tears in her eyes and she nodded. "Yes. I'm sure. I do want to stay. I don't want to leave them, it hurts me to. But we have a job to protect them, whatever it takes." I looked at her and sighed. "Very well. We leave the day after tomorrow. You better be ready." She turned to me with a stern glare. "Trust me, I will be." We left the room and walked back to ours. We got changed and layed down to sleep. "Drake." I yawned. "Yes." She gripped me tighter. "It hurts. It hurts to leave them." I stroked her hair. "I know, honey. Trust me, it hurts me too." We layed there, both crying, until sleep took us.

We woke up in the middle of the night twice to the kids crying. Me and Jess took turns taking care of them, then going back to bed. We woke up in the morning surprised. The kids weren't crying. We both got up and walked to their room to find Winry holding Sarah and Justin, and rocking Liz's bed with her feet. "Morning guys." she greeted. My and Jess smiled. "Morning. I don't mean to be rude or mean Winry. But we leave tomorrow morning, so give them up. You'll have them all to yourself when we leave." Jess said politely. Winry chuckled and handed the kids in her arms to Jess while I picked up Liz.

"Guys, breakfast is ready." granny called. "Alright, we'll be right there." Winry answered. Jess looked at Winry. "And another thing, Winry. If we come back to spoiled children, I'll slug you with your own wrench." Me and Winry both laughed at that. "Oh will you? And what if I teach them to howl?" Me and Jess twitched at the thought. "You do that, and I'll take away your godmother title." I answered and she laughed. We all walked downstairs and sat at the table. Trying to eat when you have three kids in your hands, not fun or easy. More like...impossible.

"So, your leaving tomorrow?" granny asked and we both nodded. "Yes. The promised day is less than a week away. We cant afford to stay any longer. If it wasn't for Jess's recovering, we would be gone already." Granny nodded and Winry had a sad look. "Just make sure you two come back to us all." Me and Jess smiled and nodded. "Oh don't worry. We will. But I do feel sorry for you Winry, having to care for three wolf pups." Jess said jokingly and I chuckled. "Yeah. Good luck. You'll need it." Winry glared at us then held a wrench up. Me and Jess immediately shut up.

Me and Jess spent the whole day never letting the kids out of our sights. We wanted to get as much of them as we could before we left. "Drake." I turned to my wife. "Yes?" She looked at Justin, who was in her arms. "No matter what happens, I want you to trust me. Even if I'm hurt, don't stop for me. You keep on going. And I'll do the same. If we stop fighting because one of us gets hurt, we both die. So promise me you will trust me."

I thought about it and it made perfect sense. I grabbed her face and gave her a long kiss. "I swear it. No matter what happens to either of us, we keep fighting. I swear it." We kissed again and held our children until the sun sank beneath the trees.


	20. On Our Way

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

On Our Way

Jess POV

Me and my husband layed down to sleep. We were leaving early in the morning, so we had to go to bed early. We layed there silently as we both cried, trying to fall asleep. After a while, Drake finally did, but I was still wide awake. We were leaving ours kids behind. Born only four days ago, and we're leaving them. My chest was in so much pain that there was just no way I could sleep. I quietly got out of bed and walked to the kids room. As I entered, I could hear their soft breathing, and the one thing Drake hated that Sarah got from me, snoring. I smiled.

I pulled the chair over quietly and sat down next to all three of them. Tears flooded my eyes as I watched them sleep. I started to cry, but I was stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see my husband standing right behind me. "Jess...are you really sure you want to do this. I will not be mad if you stay." I turned back around and cried into my hands. "I can't. I have to go. I have to fight for them, Drake. I have to. I just can't sit by and do nothing. I can't." He knelt down next to me and grabbed me in a hug.

I turned to him and cried silently into his shoulder. We sat there and he began to stroke my hair. "I know, hon. They'll understand, I know they will." We sat there for the longest time, until Liz started to whine. I pulled away from my husband and picked her up, rocking her back to sleep. Tears were still pouring from my eyes. "Drake." He looked at me. "Yeah?" I was starting to break down. "Please...sing to me again. I can't stop crying. Please sing to us." He let out a sigh, and after a moment, he began to sing the song he had sung to me months ago.

When he had finished, Liz was sound asleep and I looked out the window. The sky was just lighting up to the new day as the sun was about to rise. I put Liz back in her bed, and we both kissed each one of them. Now I was really breaking down, cause I turned to Drake and buried my head into is shoulder. "Promise me….promise me we'll come back, Drake. Promise me." He grabbed my chin and kissed me. "I promise, Jess. We will come back to them. Both of us." I nodded at him and turned to take one last look at our kids. "Goodbye….my darlings." I said then ran out of the room.

We got downstairs to find granny and Winry standing by the door. Winry had tears in her eyes. I walked to her and grabbed her in a hug. "Please, Winry. Take care of our children, please." I broke down again and Winry gripped me tighter. "I will, Jess. I promise." We both let go and I walked to hug granny as Drake hugged Winry. "You don't have to worry about a thing, dear. They'll be too busy being spoiled by great grandma." she said in a low and sad voice. "And I promise not to teach them to howl." Winry joked. I looked at her and smiled. "Thank you."

We all walked outside and said our final goodbyes. We hugged each other one last time, then me and my husband began to walk down the road. We were too far for Drake to hear, but with my sharp hearing, I could hear our children begin to cry. I broke out in tears again and Drake held me to his side. "We'll be back before you know it Jess. Trust me." He kissed me on the head and we walked. The cries of our children fading into the distance.

We arrived at the station and bought our tickets to Central. When the train finally arrived, Drake got on, but I stood there a moment. "Honey?" A tear fell from my eye and I looked to him. I pointed at the said tear. "This is the last tear you will see from me, Drake. When I get on this train, the crying stops." He stepped off the train and grabbed me in a hug. We both cried one last time, then wiped each other tears away. He looked me straight into the eyes. "Agreed. No more tears." We turned to the train, and stepped on.

We sat in our usual booth and watched as the train pulled away from the station. We both sat in silence for a while, until Drake spoke. "Remember the day I found you? I took you to the hotel and helped you." I smiled. "Yeah. It seems so long ago, but it really wasn't." He chuckled. "Remember I went to call Ed and Al, and came back to find you terrified of the shower?" I sighed. "How could I forget? You had to wash me yourself." He chuckled again. "Yeah. Then you claimed me as yours. You kept saying, 'Mine'." I smiled. "Yeah. I even attacked Al thinking he was going to steal you." He started to laugh. "Yup. I've never seen him so shocked and scared for his life before. He had scratches all over him when you got done with him." I snickered.

We sat in silence for a bit. "Remember the day….you confessed to me?" I asked and he smiled. "Of course. We were both scared of what the other would say. Granny had to talk some sense into both of us." I smiled. "Speaking of granny, how in the world is she so small?" He laughed at that. "I have not the slightest clue. Let me know if you find out, cause I'm curious about that too." Silence fell on us again. "Honey." I started. "Yeah?" I smiled again. "Remember….when I asked you to marry me?" He closed his eyes and smiled. "There is no way I'll ever forget that. You asked me to marry you, and I flat out told you no. Then I turned right around and asked you to marry me."

"And I turned you down. We decided to marry each other." He pulled me over and we kissed. The he started chuckling. "What?" He looked at me. "Then Ed, Al, and Izumi walk in after hearing the whole thing." He started to laugh and I got a little upset. "Yeah. Those two idiots were making fun of us." He started to laugh even harder. "And then..." He continued to laugh. "And then you sent Izumi on Ed and I sent you after Al. We both said 'kill' in perfect unison." He finished in a full out laugh, and I joined him. "Yeah. But boy can Al run. And I thought Ed was fast! And I'm a wolf!"

"I know. I could hear you all yelling from the window. Ed and Al were begging for their lives." We both laughed so hard we started to cry. "Oh great. Not even in Central yet and we already broke our promise." he said and I lightly slapped him. "The promise was for tears of sorrow, these are tears of joy. There's a difference." We kissed and sat in silence again. Then he started chuckling again. "What now?" I asked. "Remember the night you got drunk?" I face palmed. "Oh please. Not that again." He leaned over and kissed me on the head.

"I'm sorry hon. But that shit was funny as hell. You turned from a wolf to a cat, then to a fish. All in two minuets." He started laughing and I punched him in the side. "You're mean." He settled down and we held onto each other, holding hands. Neither of us said a word for the longest time, until I sighed. "And then there's our kids." We both smiled. "Yeah. There's them." He again, started chuckling. "You were in so much pain that if you weren't stuck on the bed, you really would have killed me." I smiled even more. "Yeah, I remember. And I really think I would have. For the last two weeks, I was always mad at you. I kept yelling things like, 'Look what you did to me' and 'I'm going to kill you for this'. 

"Yeah. And when you were vomiting, you kept looking at your stomach and calling the kids brats for doing that to you. And that you were going to make life a living hell for them." We both chuckled and kissed. We sat for a while, then he spoke again. "But all of that mean absolutely nothing to me." I quickly looked at him with shocked eyes. "What!?" He closed his eyes and a tear fell from his face. "It all means nothing….nothing at all. Compared to hearing the first cries of our children." A tear fell from my face when he said that. "All the pain, all the sorrow, all the death, all of it. It was worth hearing their first cry. When I heard Liz cry, I completely broke down. Everything in the world stopped to me when I heard that cry. It was the most amazing sound I had ever heard."

"Same here hon." We both sat there, tears of pure joy falling from our eyes. Then something hit me. I quickly sat up and slapped him across the face. "Ow! What the hell!? What did I do!?" I turned from him and crossed my arms. "You called me a 'cheap fur coat'!" I heard him growl. "So what!? You called me a metal head!" I turned back to him. "My fur is not cheap! It's the best fur you would ever find!" He scoffed. "Oh really!? I've felt your fur before! I'd find better fur in a thrift store!" I glared at him.

"I didn't see you complaining up north when you were cold and snuggled into me!" He growled again. "Of course not! It was freaking cold! You idiot! Fur is fur when it comes to staying warm!" I growled a wolf like growl at him. Then something hit me, and I gave a very wide grin. "Oh yeah? Just to let you know, Sarah snores." His eyes went wide and he face palmed. "Oh god! Not another one!" I gave an evil cackle and he grinned at me. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Liz howls." Now my eyes were wide. "No! You lie!" Now he was cackling.

"Nope! What do you think took me so long to come back to bed the other night? It was because I had to stop her howling." I face palmed and he started laughing. I looked right at him. "You lied, didn't you?" He was laughing like crazy. "You should have seen your face. So priceless." I growled and punched him in the side. "I hate you." He held his side and looked at me. "But you do love me." I sighed and pulled him over. "Way too damn much, freak." I kissed him and he smirked. "Right back at ya, wolf." he said and kissed me back. We returned to holding each other again and slowly dozed off to sleep.

SNORE!

"You! Damn! WOLF!"


	21. Rendezvous In The Slums

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Rendezvous In The Slums

Drake POV

I woke up and saw my wife was sleeping peacefully on my lap. I checked watch, and saw that the train was about twenty to twenty-five minuets from the station. I gently shook her awake. "Hon, wake up. Time to go." She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "But the train is still moving. We're not the station yet." I looked around and saw no one, then looked at her. "Who said we were getting off at the station?" She looked at me surprised. "We're jumping?" I nodded. "We can't let anyone see us in Central. Lets go." We stood up and I grabbed our bag. We walked to the rear door and opened it. "Change forms. You can handle the jump, I can't. I'll ride on your back." She nodded, took her shirt off, and changed to wolf form.

I put her shirt in the suitcase and climbed on her back. "Ready?" she asked, and I nodded. "Okay. Here we go." She leaped of the back and landed on the ground with a thud. "Can you smell Ed from here?" I asked. She sniffed into the air for a moment. "Yeah. He's that way." she said pointing in a direction. "Alright. Lets go." I held on tight as she ran at an amazing speed towards Eds smell. She ran for about thirty minuets until we came to the top of a hill. We could see some shacks and huts all crowded in a small area. "He's down there." she said, pointing at the buildings. "That must be Kanama. Lets change you back."

I hopped off her back and got her shirt back out as she changed back to human form. She put her shirt back on and turned to me as I smiled. "I take back what I said about 'cheap'. I really do love your fur, hon." She smiled as kissed me. "Thank you. Glad you like it." We chuckled and started our walk down the hill and into the slums. We walked around trying to find Ed, but no luck. And there were too many people for Jess to follow his scent. "What about his dad? That Hohen guy?" Jess asked. "Yeah. Lets ask around for him." We walked around asking the occasional people if they had seen Hohenheim.

We finally found someone who knew where he was and he took us to him. "Hey, Hohenheim. Long time no see." He looked at me and turned around to me. "Well, hello Drake, Jessica. It's good to see you again." I walked up and shook his hand, but Jess didn't move. "Hon, you okay?" She relaxed a bit, but still seemed on guard. "Sorry. No offense sir, but I just don't feel right about you." He just stared at her. "So, you can feel it, can you?"

"Drake!" I turned around to see Ed and the others walking up to us. "Hey, Ed." We all shook hands and Ed turned to Hohenheim. He suddenly charged at him and slugged him with his metal hand. Hohenheim flew back a few feet from the force of the punch. "Sigh. Ed, why do you have to be so hostile?" I asked. "Yeah! You could have at least warned me you were going to slug me! With your metal hand too!" Hohenheim complained. After a minuet, he stood back up and walked back to us. "I see you've brought some friends with you." he stated.

We had a short conversation about who they were and the such. I noticed that Hohenheim was looking at Greed ouroboros tattoo sternly. "That's an interesting tattoo." he calmly stated and I walked over. "Don't worry about him. We have more pressing matters to discuss." Ed jumped in. "We need to talk. The promised day is tomorrow." Hohenheim and Ed just stared at each other for a while. "Fair enough. I'll tell you everything."

We walked over to the fire he was sitting at when we arrived and we all sat down. Hohenheim began to tell us about what happened to Xerxes and that he was there when it happened, and that he was part of the blame for it. He told us that he was a living Philosophers Stone, made with the souls of the people of Xerxes from four hundred years ago. Every one of us were completely shocked. "So, that's what I sense about you. I knew something was wrong." Jess flatly stated.

Hohenheim continued to explain what 'Fathers' plan was, confirming our suspicions. He said that there was going to be a solar eclipse tomorrow, and that it was needed for there plan. I jumped in. "So, all we need to do is hold him off until the eclipse passes, right?" Hohenheim looked at me. "No. He can still use the array to make a new stone. The eclipse will just add power to the transmutation. We have to stop him altogether. I need your help to do so."

"Help you!?" Ed yelled. "I'm going to stop that bearded bastard! I'm not doing it to help you! Our best chance is to team up! And that's the only reason I'm even talking to you right now!" I stood up and put my hand on Eds shoulder. "Ed, calm down. I know you hate him, but we can't afford to be fighting each other right now. Save your energy for tomorrow." He looked at me and slightly calmed down. "Fine." I dropped my hand as Jess stood up. "We're going to get something to eat. We'll see you guys later." she said and they all nodded at us.

We walked through the slums and found a place that sold noodles and we ordered some. "Sigh. Ed sure has one hell of a temper, huh?" Jess asked. "Yup! Like someone else I know." I retorted and she lightly hit me in the side. "Freak." I chuckled. "Wolf." We kissed and the cook handed us our food. We sat there and enjoyed our meal. "So, what do you wanna do? We got some time before we go to sleep for the night." I asked and she shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. We could just walk around. I need the exercise anyway." I chuckled as we finished our food.

We left the shop and started looking around. We stopped a few times and just chatted with some of the locals to pass the time. We ran into a young woman and Jess and her talked for what seemed like hours. She asked if we had somewhere to stay and we both nodded. "We thought we would just sleep under the stars. It's nice out anyway." Jess answered. "Are you sure? I have a spare room if you would like." the woman, who's name was Melanie, offered. We thought about it a minuet. "We really don't want to intrude Mel." I stated but she shook her head. "It's no bother. Can't have a lovely young lady like her sleeping on the ground." Jess smiled. "Thank you." I shook my head. "Thank you, Melanie. You're too kind."

We walked into the hut and she showed us the room. It only had a small bed and a lamp on the floor beside it. "Make yourselves at home." she said then walked away. We walked in and sat on the bed. "My legs are a little worn out, hon. That long run took a lot out of me." Jess stated and I chuckled. "Thanks for the ride, honey." We kissed and layed down. We slowly drifted off to sleep, but Jess suddenly sat up. "Honey? What's wrong?" I asked and she was shivering, looking out the window into the woods. "Somethings here!" I sat up and looked out that window.

"What is it?" I asked and she continued to stare. "It's the same! The presence in the tunnel! It's the same! It's here!" I stood up and strapped my gear on. "Let's go!" She nodded and we left the hut running into the woods. We ran through the woods until we came to a clearing where Ed and his friends were standing. We ran up to them and saw Al standing at the edge of the clearing. "Al?" I asked. Ed ran up to him and started talking to him. I looked at Jess and she was frozen in fear.

"Honey, what is it?" I whispered in her ear. She swallowed hard then turned to me. "Somethings not right, Drake. That presence, it's coming from Al." I looked at Al, then back to here. "What do you mean?" She was shaking with fear. "That's...that's.." I looked back at Al, and looked closely. He started to walk into the woods, But Ed asked if he was okay, and he stopped. I turned back to Jess. "Tell me, what is it?" She looked at me. "That's...not Al." My eyes went wide as I turned back to Al. "Ed! Get away from him!" I heard Lings voice yell. "He's not…..he's a…." I looked at Jess, then to Al. Then I realized it.

"Ed! That's not Al! Move!" Suddenly, a dozen black blades shot out from Als feet. Me and Jess rolled out of the way, then the blades retracted back into Als feet. "What the hell!?" I yelled. "What the hell was that!?" Ed followed. 'Al' turned around to us. "I see you're working with them now, huh Greed?" he spoke in a voice that was mix of Als and something else. Me and Jess stood up and she quickly changed forms, ripping yet another shirt. "How pathetic that you share your body with a human. Your soul couldn't be any weaker" the voice spoke and Als was not there this time. Suddenly, dozens of purple eyes opened it the crevices of the armor.

"What in the hell is that!?" Jess yelled. "It's Pride." Greed answered and we all turned to him. "He's my oldest brother." We were all shocked and looked at the armor. "That's...a homuculus?" Ed asked. I watched as Pride spoke with Greed about him betraying 'Father' again. "Damn it! How did you know I was here!?" Greed asked. "That's true, how did he?" I asked Jess and she shook her head. "No idea. But you are right. It seems that he knew exactly where we were." she answered. "How dare you disguise yourself as my brother!" Ed yelled and Pride chuckled.

"Who said that this was a disguise?" The helmet lifted up and the black inside split away, to reveal Als blood seal in the back of the armor. "This is, without a doubt, your brothers actual body." We were all frozen with shock. Ed and Pride continued to talk about him and Al body. Pride told Ed to go with him, but got into a ready stance. Me and Jess followed suit and I drew my sword. "I may not be able to kill you. But if I have to slice off a few of your limbs in the process, so be it." Suddenly, Jess tensed up. "Here it comes!" she yelled as the black blades erupted from Als feet again. They came at us, and we dove into the woods.


	22. Darkness And Shadows

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Darkness And Shadows

Drake POV

The blades came at us and we dove into the woods to get away from them. I ran to the side and charged at the black being, dodging his attacks and trying to get close. Jess ran around and tried to hit him form the other side. But the blades kept swinging at her. The black things then grabbed a hold of Greed. "I've captured your friend Fullmetal. Ready to give up?" Pride spoke as Jess and I stopped our attacks. The black things were closing in on me and her and we steadily backed away.

Ed smirked. "I think it's about I start winning some of these fights." He clapped his hands and pressed them to the ground. The blue sparks shot up, then into the slums. A second later, all source of light in the slums disappeared, turning everything into complete darkness. When it did, the black thing disappeared. I looked around, but it was so dark, I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I stood there unable to move without running into something. "Honey." I heard me wife whisper. "Right here." I whispered back.

I froze when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I quickly turned around, ready to strike. "Honey, it's me." I relaxed and reached out and felt my wife's fur. "It's too dark. I can't see a damn thing." She walked to me and hugged me. "I can't either, but I can smell it. That thing is still here." I nodded and she started to walk slowly. "We need to get to Ed. Hold onto me." We slowly walked for a minuet and I could hear Greed and Heinkel talking. "Greed, Heinkel. You there?" We heard a slight noise. "Yeah, it's us."

"Greed, what the hell was all that? Those black blade things?" Jess asked. "They're shadows. That's what Pride is. It's a good thing the lights went out. He can't cast any shadows without a source of light." We walked up to them. "So we got rid of him then?" Heinkel asked. "No. He's still here somewhere. He's just lying in wait till.." I heard Greed trip and stumble to his knees. "So, if he is nothing but shadows, how the hell is he alive without them?" I asked. "He has a special container that he uses to travel, and keep him alive." Greed answered. "Wait. He's not inside the armor?" Henkeil asked.

"No. His real body is somewhere close by." Greed cleared up. "The woods! He's just inside the woods!" Jess exclaimed. "How do you know?" Greed asked. "Als body, the shadow from it was extending into the trees. If Pride uses shadows, then that has to be where he is, just inside the trees." Jess explained. "Alright. Heinkel, go find him, and kill him." Greed ordered. "How the hell do you expect me to fight him? He'll cut me to pieces." he answered. "Like I said, he can't cast any shadows, so he can't fight back right now. And he can't see a damn thing, like us. But you can follow his scent."

"Alright, but you better be right about this." We heard Heinkel take off into the woods. "Darius, can you find Ed?" I asked. "Yeah. He's still in the clearing. I'll go get him." Darius walked off, leaving me, Jess, and Greed. "And we have another problem." Greed spoke out. "Great, whats that?" I moaned. "How in the hell did he find us? No one knew we were here." I thought about it for a minuet. "Good point. He can't smell us can he?" I asked. "No. Not unless 'Father' gave him a new ability." Greed answered and we could hear Darius and Ed walking back. "Get down!" Jess yelled.

Jess POV

We were talking with Greed, trying to figure out how the hell Pride found us. _Somethings coming!_ "Get down!" I yelled as I pushed Drake and Greed down to the ground, and Darius pushed Ed down too. Something flew over our heads and hit the tree that we were standing next to. We heard a loud crack, and then the tree fall to the ground. _I know this scent from somewhere…_ "I smell you Fullmetal Alchemist, and I smell Greed. Along with someone I've never smelled before." _That voice! It's fat boy!_ "Shit, it's Gluttony!" I yelled. "Now it makes sense. Pride used Gluttony's sense of smell to track us!" Greed followed.

"And I smell the wolf and the Blade Alchemist as well! 'Father' said I could eat you now! And you smell tasty!" He started to walk to us, but he tripped and fell. "Sounds like he can't see either. Jess, can you tell where he is?" Drake asked. "Barely. I can smell him, but I can't see him." I felt his hand on my shoulder. "I want you to throw me right at him. I'll slice him up as I pass by. When he heals, look for the alchemy flashes. Go for that." I gave a slight moan. "I don't like this, but lets do it. Darius, you ready?" I heard him stand up. "Yeah, lets do this." I grabbed Drake by his shirt and got ready to throw. "Make sure to don't throw me into a damn tree, please."

"Ha, don't tempt me." I sniffed the air and pinpointed where Gluttony was. "Now!" I threw Drake right at Gluttony, and a split second later we saw small flashes of him healing. Me and Darius charged at him and struck him anyway we could. "Now for the final blow!" Darius yelled as we both hit Gluttony at the same time. But, something felt odd. The object I hit was a hell of a lot lighter than Gluttony. "Damn it Jess. Why me?" Drake wheezed. And it turned out that Darius had hit Ed. I quickly knelt down to Drake. "Honey! I'm so sorry! It was an accident!" He slowly stood up. "I hate you."

I helped him back to his feet. "Well, that didn't work. We can't fight like this, hon. We're only going to end up hitting each other." I heard him cough. "Yeah, I realize that. Damn you have one mean swing, hon. So what do we do now?" he asked. Suddenly, Greed charged at Gluttony and was kicking his ass. "What the…?" I asked dumbly. "Nice!" It was Lings voice. "Ling!?" Ed asked. "That's right!" he answered. "You're making me mad! All I want to do is eat! But you wont let me eat you, and I'm getting hungrier! So I'm just going to have to swallow everything!" Gluttony yelled.

 _IT'S COMING!_ "Guys! It's coming!" I yelled. "She's right, somethings coming this way!" Darius followed. "What's coming this way!?" Ed yelled in a panic. "I've felt this presence before!" Ling continued. "Hello!? Normal guy here who can't see in the dark! What the hell are you freaks talking about!?" Ed was clearly worried now, and for good reason. "MOVE!" I yelled. But something flew passed us and jumped all over the place around Gluttony. _That smell...it's familiar…_

Suddenly, we saw flashes of light as Gluttony fell to pieces. "What the hell was that!?" Drake yelled. "I smell you!" Gluttony said then screamed in pain as he was cut up again. "I know...that smell!" I heard the object continue to dance around Gluttony, cutting him up with every pass. "Is there something else out there?" Ed asked. _Where do I know this smell?_ "I think it's….it is!" Ling spoke. _Wait a minuet, I know who that is!_ We heard a loud thud as Gluttony was thrown to the ground.

"I'm glad to see you're okay! It's good to see you Lan Fan" Ling spoke out again. "Lan Fan!" I yelled. We heard Gluttony get up and try to run away, but Ling and Lan Fan took off after him. "Have fun!" Drake yelled. _Someone else is here!_ I quickly turned to the strange smell. "Who's there!?" I yelled. We all heard footsteps walking towards us. I didn't know who this was, but my instincts were telling me that he was of no danger to us. "Well, it's been a long time, huh kids?"

"Wait a minuet, I know that voice anywhere. Fu?" Ed asked. "Of course. Who did you think it was?" I was a little confused. "Who are you exactly?" I asked and Ed spoke up. "This is Fu. You don't remember? You've met him before. He's one of Lings guard dogs." I had to think back a bit. "Oh, you mean the guy from Rush Valley. Sorry about that." I finally said. "So what are you doing here?" Ed asked. "We've been hiding out in Central a while now. We detected several large chi converging here. I sense two nearby."

"Yeah. I would guess that's Greed and Gluttony dueling it out." Drake stated. "Greed huh? The one who took the young lords body. And there's another large chi in the forest." Fu continued. "Our companion is fight a homunculus called Pride out there." Darius answered. We suddenly heard a very loud boom in the distance. "Damn, those two are really letting Gluttony have it." I commented. "Wait a minuet, I know Lings out there. But who else is it?" Ed asked. "That would be Lan Fan." Fu answered. "Lan Fan!? But she just recently had her automail attached! There's no way she can fight Gluttony in her condition!" Ed yelled, then he ran towards them.

A second later, there was an explosion right in front of us, throwing Ed back. "God damn!" I yelled as Ed landed. "You don't need to worry. We have plenty of resources besides hand to hand combat." Fu commented. Then another explosion went off. "You know, I almost feel sorry for the fat boy." Drake said with a chuckle as Ed stood up. "Hey Fu, what else do you have besides explosives?" he asked. "All sorts of things. Tear gas bombs, flash bombs, flares." Fu answered. I looked to town and saw that the residents were lighting torches.

"We have a problem." I stated. They all looked to the slums. "Shit. The lights are coming back on." Drake spoke. "Yeah. It wont be long until Pride has enough light to cast shadows again." Ed stated. "We need to get over there and help Heinkel!" Darius quickly finished. "I can't believe he's not done with him yet." Drake said. "Fu, can you help us? We need you to detect Prides chi and lead us to him. We really need your help old man." Ed asked. Fu didn't answer for a minuet, and then finally spoke.

"I'll do what I can." Drake placed his hand on my shoulder. "Hon, you and Darius go set up behind Pride and wait for our signal. I'll follow Ed and Fu. And be careful." I smiled. "Yeah, you too hon." We went our separate ways as me and Darius followed our noses to were Pride was. We walked into the darkness towards the loud crashes of Heinkel tearing Pride up.


	23. Catching Shadows

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Catching Shadows

Drake POV

Me and Ed followed Fu through the woods until we could see some light in the distance. "Uh oh. That's not good." I stated as we began running to the light. It turned out that a fire had broken out, and that meant that Pride could cast shadows now. We kept running until we came to a clearing. Pride was about to slice up Heinkel, who had numerous wounds. Prides shadow blade charged right at Heinkel, but Ed jumped in the way and blocked it with his metal arm. I ran over and moved Heinkel out of the way, then ran back to Ed.

Pride started really laying into us with his blades. Ed kept blocking with his arm, while I used my sword. Every now and then, I would use my bracer arrays to pull knives out of the ground and throw them at Pride. But every time I did, his shadows kept blocking them. Then an idea popped in my head. I used the arrays again to make another knife and threw it. The shadow blocked it, but the blade split in two when it hit, causing the other half to hit Pride in the face. I used my array to pull the metal and make not one, but two 'half' knives held together by a small piece of metal in the center.

I tried it again, and it worked, hitting him in the leg. Pride couldn't tell which way the other half was going to go, so he couldn't block it effectively. "What's wrong Pride!? Having trouble with my knives? Now you see why they call me the Blade Alchemist!" I taunted him and I could see he was pissed now. But his attacks suddenly stopped, he just stood there. We all stared at him as he just stood there, doing nothing. "You're not giving up are you?" Ed taunted him again. Suddenly, we heard familiar metal footsteps walking through the trees.

We looked and saw Als body being controlled by Pride again on our right side. "Al!" Ed called. I looked at Pride. "Cheater!" Pride smiled. "I figured this might give me the advantage. Unless you want to destroy your brother." _He fell for it!_ Me and Ed grinned. "Now old man!" he yelled, and Fu leaped out of the trees near Pride and jumped into the air, throwing a small cylinder high into the air. The object flew above Pride and then erupted in a very bright flash of light.

The flash drowned out all of the shadows around Pride. "NO!" he yelled as the shadows inside Al disappeared. "Darius! Jess! NOW!" I yelled and they both hopped out of the trees. Darius ran and grabbed Als body away from any shadows so Pride couldn't get to him, while Jess ran up and slipped an explosive bomb into Prides shirt, and ran into the woods. He tried to get it out, but it suddenly blew up, throwing him to the ground. The light subsided and Pride stood back up, sending shadows at us again.

"You're not getting away!" he yelled. "Have another!" Ed yelled and threw another flash bomb above Pride. Gluttony then ran out of the woods up to Pride, and the bomb went off, creating another bright light. "Jess! Again!" She ran from the trees again, put another bomb in Prides shirt, and dove back into the woods. The bomb went off and Pride was tossed to the ground again, while Gluttony was rolling on the ground covering his hurting eyes. Pride stood back up and sent shadows at us again. "JESS!" I yelled and she ran passed Pride. He turned, knowing what was coming, but instead of an explosive bomb, Jess threw another flash bomb into the air, then dove into the woods again.

The bomb went off and this time, Jess ran passed and shoved a tear gas bomb down his shirt and ran right back into the woods. All we could hear was Pride coughing his lungs out as Jess ran up to me. The gas subsided and we could see that Pride was now furious. "You're pushing your luck!" he said as Ling and Lan Fan ran over to us. "Damn! What does it take to kill you!?" I yelled, and Gluttony was still rolling on the ground from the pain in his eyes. We all waited as Pride and Gluttony had a short conversation. But something was wrong, Pride was giving Gluttony an evil look. We watched in confusion as Prides shadows surrounded Gluttony and he was panicking.

We were are shocked beyond belief when Prides shadows attacked Gluttony, biting him in half. His upper body disappeared in the air, while his lower body fell to the ground. The shadows then attacked the body and...ate it. We just couldn't believe what we were seeing. Pride just ate own of his own kind. "Now, this should make things much easier. I can practically smell every movement you make." Pride sniffed the air, then looked into the woods where Darius had taken Als body. "I recognize that scent. You're somewhere close by, Hohenheim."

He then turned to Ed. "Tell me something Edward. Do you think your father would step forward to save you if I chopped off all of your limbs?" And that's when all hell broke lose. He was sending dozens of shadows at us from every direction. "JESS! GET OUTTA HERE NOW!" I yelled and she took of for the woods. Pride sent shadows to attack her, but I jumped in the way and blocked them with my sword. After I saw that Jess was safe, I ran to try and attack him with my double knife trick. It didn't work, he just had way too many shadows everywhere.

I saw Lan Fan fall out of a tree that the shadows sliced into pieces and she was falling into a shadow jaw. Ed kicked her out of the way as I sent more double knives at Pride. Again it didn't work. I could barely keep my footing cause I was moving too fast, way too fast. I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I fell to my knees and coughed up blood. Pride saw I was on the ground and sent shadows after me. I jumped away and blocked them. Again, I tried the knives, but this time I tried using three. This time it worked, cause the third one hit Pride in the arm.

I tried to do it again, but I didn't get any metal from the ground. I had pulled all the metal out of the area, so all I had left was my sword. "Shit!" I mumbled. Pride kept hitting us all like crazy, all we could do was defend ourselves. He came at me again and I tried to move out of the way. But I coughed up blood again and my legs shut down, they just wouldn't move. The shadow hit me in the arm, creating a one inch wide gash across my left upper arm. I fell to the ground again coughing blood, my chest in so much pain.

Pride stopped his attacks, and I looked to find Ed and Greed laying on the ground. Pride and Greed bickered a moment, then Pride looked to the woods. I followed his gaze to see Hohenheim walking towards him. They both had a brief conversation, then Pride pulled his shadows away from us and back to him. They stared at each other for a while, till Hohenheim walked forward and Pride sent shadows after him. Suddenly, Al ran out of the woods and right up to Pride to grab him. But Pride saw it coming and caught him in is shadows.

"This was your pathetic plan? You should have run when you had the chance." The shadows forced Al on his knees and Ed tried to run to him, but Hohenheim stopped him. I coughed up blood again and was starting to get dizzy. "It seems that your son enjoys being held hostage. It's either that, or he's supremely stupid." Pride taunted. "That's crossing a line Pride." Hohenheim stated then glared at him. "Don't EVER mock my son!" Suddenly, sparks flew all over the place as the ground started to peal away and in towards Pride, towering over him. Pride looked around completely shocked, then Al grabbed him from behind and held him.

The ground slowly towered over them both and started to close itself around Pride and Al. "Hohenheim!" he yelled as he sent a shadow blade right at Hohenheims neck. It stopped right as it touched him and disappeared due to Pride being trapped in the light less prison. We were all shocked to see that he had trapped Pride without even moving a finger. Ed turned to Hohenheim and yelled at him for trapping Al in there too. I slowly stood up and walked over to them, trying not to pass out. "Ed. He did the right thing." I stated and Ed glared at me. "And how is trapping Al with that monster the right thing!?" he yelled back at me.

"Do you think we could have killed Pride, Ed!? Do you!? He was tearing us to pieces! It was only a matter of time before he killed us all and took the fight to the slums!" I corrected him then coughed blood again. "At this point, it would be impossible to kill him, Ed. He had too much light to work with. The only option we had was to imprison him. At least until we figure out a way to kill him." Hohenheim finished. I coughed blood again and Ed ran to me. "Drake, you okay?" I coughed again and more blood came out. "I'm fine. I just pushed my body too far. I'll be alright." Hohenheim turned to me.

"No, your not. You've nearly destroyed your lungs. And the nerves in your leg are torn up too." he stated as he walked up to me and placed his hand on my back. There was a flash of light, and the pain in my chest disappeared. "The damage you've already done is permanent, but I have healed your lungs enough to allow you to keep fighting. But be warned. You push yourself like this again, and it may kill you." I looked up at him and grinned. "Thanks for the warning, but that wont stop me. I have a family to protect, and I'll do so until my dying breath."

He just stared at me. "You do what you must. But I have given you my warning. Now, lets get to work putting these fires out." he stated, then walked off. Ed was still staring at me and I turned to him. "Not one word of this to Jess, Understood?" Ed sighed, then nodded. "I wont tell her. I promise." He then walked off to help with the fires. I sat there and thought about what Hohenheim told me. "Honey!" I turned to see Jess in human form running to me. Breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey, hon. Missed ya." She grabbed me in a hug and kissed me. "Idiot. Why do you have to have all the fun?" I chuckled.

"Aw come on, hon. You gotta let me have some of the action." I answered and she moaned. "I hate you." We both laughed and left to help with the fires. My thought kept going back to Hohenheims warning. _He was right, I did severely damage my lungs and body with the way I was moving so fast. 'Truth' was right, I push myself too hard, and my body will eventually shut down on me. I'll have to hold off using my abilities as much as I can, till the end._


	24. Meeting Up

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Meeting Up

Drake POV

It took us about two hours to put out all the fires Pride had caused. I sent Jess back to the womans hut to grab our bag and bring it back, while I stayed back and bandaged Heinkels wounds. His left arm was really tore up, he was lucky he didn't lose it. "That woman of yours is crazy to attack Pride like she did." he commented. "Yeah, you're telling me. But it was me and Eds idea, she was just following along. Except for the gas bomb. I guess she came up with that one on her own. I only wanted her to throw another flash bomb." Heinkel started chuckling.

I got done with his arm and started a bandage for a cut on his head. "Eds brother sure is smart to think of a plan like that, trapping Pride. I can't believe it worked." Heinkel stated as I finished the bandage. I turned to the large soil prison that Al and Pride were in. "I agree. I never would have thought of that in time." I closed the med bag and stood up. "How in the hell are we going to kill it?" Heinkel asked and I shook my head.

"Not a clue. You tore him up nonstop for almost an hour, and Jess threw two explosives down his shirt. If that didn't work, what will?" We both stared at the prison until Hohenheim called to me. "Drake, give us a hand over here." I turned to him and nodded. "Alright, I'm coming. You rest up Heinkel. I'll send Jess to check on you." He nodded and I walked to where the others were. The fires were out, but there were still small embers here and there that we had to take care of. We didn't want the fire to break out again.

I was stomping out a few embers when Jess walked up. "Got it, hon." she said holding up our bag. I saw that she had gone ahead and pulled on a new shirt. Then I saw Darius walk up. "Hey wolf." Jess turned around to him. "It's Jess." she retorted. "Sorry. You think you could change forms again and give me a hand moving these logs to the edge of town for the dwellers?" Jess scoffed. "Yeah. Hold on." She took her shirt back off and handed it to me. She kissed my cheek, changed forms, then walked off with Darius.

Jess POV

I was carrying a large log on my shoulder, taking it to the slums for the residents to use. "I have to say, you sure are crazy going after Pride like you did." Darius spoke. "Yeah. I kinda got carried away with that. He was really pissing me off." Darius chuckled. "If that's what you do when you're mad, I hope I never piss you off." I chuckled too. "You'd be dead by now." He twitched and I started laughing. We walked by the large 'Pride prison' and saw a group of people standing next to it. "Who do you suppose that is?" I asked.

We walked up to them and heard them talking about the prison. "Hey! Is that Gerso and Zampano?" Darius asked. They all turned to us and I could see that there were five of them. "Darius!?" one yelled. We stopped when we got to arms length. Darius began arguing with two of them as we all watched. "So, who are you guys?" I asked and the man with a very disfigured face looked to me. "I'm Doctor Marcoh. And this is Scar, and Yoki." I turned to the large man that Marcoh pointed as scar. "You're Scar!?" I yelled and he nodded.

"And you're a chimera, aren't you? What's your name?" Scar asked. "Oh yeah, I forgot." I stated and turned back to human form. "My name is Jessica, but you can call me Jess. And you're the one that's been causing chaos for the brothers, right?" He glared at me, but I glared back. "Please, Jess. Now is not the time for this." Marcoh stepped between us. I nodded and turned back to Scar. "Alright, sorry." Scar nodded. "Doctor Marcoh!"

The three of us turned to see Ed and Drake running up to us. "Oh, Edward." Marcoh answered and Ed turned to Scar. "So, you're still working with Scar, huh? Sorry about this, but we need to talk right.." "INCOMING!" Drake yelled as we all ducked to dodge a log flying over our heads. We stood up and turned to the direction the log came from. We saw Darius, Zampano, and Gerso all still yelling at each other. "Hey! Piggy, Gorilla, and Fatty, shut up and stop fighting!" Ed yelled and they turned to us. "You wanna mess with us, shorty!?" they said in unison. "JESS!" Drake yelled to me. I turned to him and saw him pointing at the three men. "KILL!"

Drake POV

I just stood up from almost getting killed by a flying tree, and the three responsible were still fighting each other. _Okay, now I'm mad!_ "JESS!" I yelled and she turned to me. I pointed at Darius and the other two. "KILL!" She nodded, changed forms again, and charged after them. Darius saw her coming with rage in her eyes and started running. "I would run if I were you guys!" he yelled back to the other two. They looked, saw her coming, then took off as well.

I could see Scar was shocked. "Just what the hell is she? A demon?" he asked and I turned to him. "My wife." I stated and he and Marcoh looked at me. "Your wife!?" they spoke in unison and I nodded. "Yeah. So whatever you do, don't piss her or me off." They both nodded. "So how did things go for you guys? You take care of what you needed?" I asked and they nodded. "We deciphered the notes from Scars brother. And we have a plan to stop these homunculi and their leader. We need to sit and talk it over." Marcoh explained.

"Alright. Lets go over here and talk it over." Ed spoke, pointing over towards Hohenheim and Fu. We turned to walk, but then we saw Jess come back, blood on her claws. We all stared at her wide eyed. "I see that you got at least one of them, and I hope you didn't kill him." I stated. She was panting really fast. "Nope!...Got all….three!…..Just took…..a while…..to catch…..them." she spoke between breaths. We looked to see the three men walk up behind her, their faces and chests all scratched up. Scar, Ed, and Marcoh all stared at her with jaws dropped. "That woman is crazy!" Zampano clearly stated and I just laughed.

Darius, Zampano, and Gerso walked over and sat down with Heinkel to talk. The rest of us got together to discuss the plan. Fu decided that he was going to scout around in Central, because no one knows he's with us. I thought for minuet, then turned to my wife. "Jess, you go with him. If he is somehow discovered, we'll have a better chance of getting the intel we need if there's two to bring it to us." Fu turned to me. "I doubt that they will find out who I am. It will be much easier if I go alone.

"In most cases that's true, Fu. But this is way too big to take risks. There is always that chance you could be killed or captured. If you two stay together, then one of you can get away. Besides, Jess is the fastest of all of us. She can get the intel to us, then return to you." I stated as Fu turned to Jess. He stared at her for a minuet, then turned to me. "I don't like this, but I'll take her with me." I reached over and set my hand on his shoulder. "This is my wife, Fu. I'm trusting you with her." He smiled and pushed my hand away.

"You don't need to worry about a thing. She'll be safe." I nodded and turned to my wife. "And you be careful." She walked up to me, kissed me, and looked me in the eyes. "When am I not?" she asked and I smirked. "Want me to make a list?" I asked jokingly as she slapped me lightly and kissed me again. "Love you, freak." she stated and hugged me. "Love you too, wolf." We kissed once more, then her and Fu took off. "Be careful." I whispered.

I looked down and saw that the array on my left bracer was damaged, and I turned to Ed. "Hey, Ed. Can you use your alchemy to fix this?" He looked at it and nodded. He did a quick transmutation and gave it back, the array completely fixed. "Thanks. So, how do we get in?" Ed thought about it a minuet. "We can use the tunnel that May and I discovered. It's guarded by a pack of vicious chimeras, but they wont be any trouble." Scar answered. "And we also have that entrance in the third laboratory." Ed stated and I turned to him.

"I don't remember anything when I went there with you months ago." Ed turned to me. "There used to be, but they sealed it up with alchemy. The hallway is still there though. We can use the same room that Al found." he cleared up. I thought about it for a minuet. "Okay, sounds good. But the place is always guarded. How do we get in without telling all of Central where we are?" We all thought about it for a minuet. "We'll just have to figure it out when we get there." Ed finally stated.

We decided that Heinkel would stay behind, because of his injuries. Marcoh and Yoki would stay back as well to make sure no one goes near Prides prison. That's when another bright idea came to my mind. "Hey Ed. I need your alchemy for one more thing." I told him what I wanted, then gave him my sword. He used his alchemy to do as I asked and he gave the sword back. I would have done it, but I had so many things on mind that I didn't want to screw it up.

They all got ready to go, as I took my coat off. I grabbed my ankle length trench coat out of my suitcase, ripped the sleeves off, and put it on. I also ripped the sleeves off my shirt so that my arms were completely bare, and my bracers exposed. I saw that they were still getting ready, so I decided to have a last minuet smoke. I looked into the distance at Central. _Today is the day. It all comes down to today. No matter what happens, we are going to win! We will win!_ "Hey Drake! Let's go!" Ed yelled to me. I put my cigarette out and walked over to join them.

"Drake, you ready?" Ed asked. I looked at everyone, then back to Ed. "It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not. Lets take these bastards out." Everyone nodded, then we started our long walk into Central.


	25. Infiltration

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Infiltration

Jess POV

Fu and I ran, using the woods as cover, until we got to the edge of the city. I changed back to human form and put on a shirt, while Fu just put on a trench coat. "Listen up, we'll stay together as long as we can. Our job is to stay alert as to what that Mustang character is doing." Fu explained to me and I nodded. "For now, we'll stay under the guise of a grandfather and granddaughter sight seeing. Don't do anything to give us away." he continued. "Got it. Let me know when to give the guys info. I can track them down by scent." Fu nodded, and we walked towards the city.

We didn't even walk twenty feet down the street, and we could already see that Mustang was hard at work. There were troops and MP's all over the place, and citizens were panicking like madmen. "Well, I see that Mustang don't wait for no one." I quietly stated. "This is going to make things hard. The police and MP's may stop us, so be ready to run at any moment if they discover us." Fu warned. We continued walking for a while, looking at everything that was going on.

"With things going crazy like this, I don't know if Ed and the others can even get in." I stated again. Then, I saw a familiar face standing by a car in the road. It was Major Armstrong, and he would recognize me right away. I gave Fus coat a slight tug on the sleeve and rocked my head slightly towards the alley. We both calmly walked into it and stopped. "That's Major Armstrong, the big guy by the car. He'll see me right away, so we need to take a different route." I warned and Fu nodded.

"You go through the alley to the other side of the block and wait there. I'm going to walk by him and see if I hear anything. I'll pick you back up on the other side." I nodded and started walking down the alley as he walked down the street towards the Major. I got to the other end and hid behind some trash cans to wait on Fu. I waited about twenty minuets until I heard him. "Wolf." I peeked around the cans, saw him, and walked up to him. We continued to walk down the street and Fu whispered to me.

"I didn't hear anything on Mustang, but apparently a General named Armstrong has killed another General named Gardner." I silently gasped and looked at him with my head forward. " 'General' Armstrong is here!?" I whispered and Fu nodded. "I don't know this person. Who is it?" he asked. "She's the commanding officer of Fort Briggs up in the north. Why in the world is she here?" Fu shook his head. "I don't know, but things are going a little too fast. We need to move quickly." Fu answered and I nodded. We continued to walk through the streets.

Drake POV

Getting into the city was close to impossible, there were soldiers everywhere. We ran from alley to alley, avoiding them as much as we could. Until we ran into a small group, but Lan Fan hit them with one of her gas bombs. While they were choking on the gas, we ran up and knocked them out. We tied them up and hid them behind some trash cans. After about ten more minuets, we found the entrance that Scar told us about. However, it was heavily guards by at least a platoon of men.

"Well, so much for going that way. Now we have no choice but to use the third lab." Ed stated. "Yeah, but we still have to worry about those guards." I reminded. "Yeah. And if there guarding some random place like this, what do you think they'll have at the lab?" Gerso asked and Ed turned to us. "Well we don't have the time to wonder anything. Lets get there and figure it out when we get there." We all nodded and started for the lab.

It took us a while because of all the soldiers, but we finally got to the lab entrance. We hid in the bushes across the street and saw that there were eight guards. "Well, you guessed it Gerso." I reminded. "Eight of them, and in the open too. This is not going to be easy." Zampano stated. Yet another bright idea came to my head. "Ed, come with me. Everyone else, stay here and keep hidden. Scar, stay right where you are and don't move." They all nodded as I drew my sword and Ed made his arm sword.

We both jumped out of the bushes and ran to the guards. "Soldiers, help us!" I yelled to them and Ed pulled out his watch. We got to the soldiers and faked exhausted panting. "We're State Alchemists, we need your help!" Ed told the guards and they looked at the watch. "You're State Alchemists!?" one asked and we nodded. "We need your help! Scar is trying to kill us!" I said and pointed to the bushes where Scar was standing next to a tree with a shocked look. "Hey! He's on the wanted list! You, freeze!" one yelled and they all pulled their guns.

Me and Ed grinned, then turned around and smacked all of the guards in the back of the heads, knocking them out. "Come on! Lets go!" Ed yelled to the group. They came out of the bushes and ran up to us. "Nice work guys!" Gerso commented. Hohenheim just looked at the downed soldiers. "Forget about your wife being the mean one, Drake. What you two just did was worse." I glared at him. "We got past them, didn't we? Now come on." We all ran inside the building and followed Ed down the halls.

We walked for about five minuets until Ed stopped near a wall. "Found it!" He clapped his hands and made a door from the wall. We opened it to reveal a set of stairs going down. "You just amaze me, Ed" I stated. "Glad I impress you. Now hurry up." We walked down the stairs to the bottom and the hall split two ways. "Well, I guess we split up here." Darius blatantly stated. "Duh, you think. You seem to have the 'intelligence' of a gorilla too." I retorted and everyone chuckled.

We spent the next couple of minuets discussing who was going which way. We finally decided that Hohenheim and Lan Fan would go right, while the rest went left. "You two be careful, especially you Lan Fan. Your arm is still healing, so don't push yourself." Ed reminded her and she gave a look of agitation. "You keep in mind about what I said, Drake." Hohenheim reminded me and I nodded. "I will. Thanks." We went our separate ways and began walking down the long hallway.

Jess POV

Fu had sent me to go find Drake and the others to let them know about the situation. I followed their scent to some building with guards out front, some on the ground, some waking up. "Yup. They definitely went this way. And there's no way I'm getting past them. I best get back to Fu" I mumbled, then ran away to get back with Fu. I followed his scent to a small alley not far from where I left him. "Well?" he asked. "They went in through the lab, but there are a lot of guards there. I cant get to the guys. Learn anything else?"

"Yes. Mustang has kidnapped the Fuhrers wife, and they're holding her hostage at the radio station. They're sending troops there now. And we have a problem." I looked at him with a raised brow. "What?" He looked to the street. "I sense a strong presence of chi from a man moving to that large building." I looked to where he was looking, at Central Command. "Can you guess who it is?" I asked and he shook his head. "No. What about you? Can you smell him from here?" I tried smelling the air, and I could smell him. "I can, and it's familiar. Very familiar. But I cant quite place it. I may have fought him before." Fu looked at me.

"We'll worry about him later. Right now we need to keep listening around for more on whats going on." I nodded and we left the alley walking down the street. "Excuse me miss, sir." We turned around to see a soldier behind us and we slightly froze. "Yes?" I answered. "You look familiar. Who are you miss?" _Uh oh. Not good._ "Oh my name is Wendy and this is my grandfather-in-law Henry. I'm getting married next week and he brought me here to do some shopping and get to know each other." I said in a cheery voice.

The soldier studied us closely. "Shopping? During an uprising?" _Shit!_ _Uhhh…_ "Uprising!? We heard it was a small prison break!" _Please buy it. Please buy it._ "Prison break? No miss, there is an uprising in the city! You two get out of here and get to safety, now!" We both nodded and quickly walked away. "Whew. That was too damn close." I stated and Fu turned to me. "Not bad. Not bad at all. But we got lucky. We should stay in the alleys from now on." I nodded and we ducked into the alley once we got out of the soldiers view.

We walked a few minuets more and Fu looked at me. "Whats wrong?" I turned to him. "That mans smell. I know it from somewhere, but I can't think of it. I know that I did fight him before. I don't think we can ignore it anymore." Fu looked at me concerned and nodded. "Alright. Lets head that way and check it out." We walked from alley to alley towards the familiar scent. _I know that I've fought him before. But where?"_

Drake POV

We continued to walk down the hallway and it was starting to get darker. "Ed, how much further do you think it is?" I asked. "Don't know. I've never been down here. If I remember what the Lieutenant told me back in the hospital, it shouldn't.." He was stopped when we all heard hundreds of high pitched, soul piercing screams echoing through the halls. "What the hell is that!?" I asked as the screams continued. "I don't know. And it don't sound good!" Ed answered. "I've got a bad feeling about this." Darius added.

The screams suddenly stopped, and we all stood there frozen with a slight fear. "Ed, I think we may be in trouble soon." I stated. "Yeah. I think you're right about that. Lets keep moving." We continued to walk down the hall until we saw light up ahead. We turned the corner to find ourselves in a very large room with a large door on the other side. At the base of the door was the remains of some kind of body. "Who is this?" Gerso asked. "Number 66, Barry the Chopper. One of the fifth lab guardians." Ed answered then walked over to the door.

He tried to force it open, but it wouldn't budge. Scar stepped forward. "Stand back." He got ready to blast the door with his arm, but the door suddenly opened. "Well, that solves that problem." I commented and stepped forward next to Ed. "Yeah. Lets g...AHHHHH!" We all froze in shock as dozens of pale, white, human….things ran through the door, right at us."


	26. Dolls

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Dolls

Drake POV

We were all frozen in shock as dozens of those weird human shaped things came at us. I drew my sword and sliced one across the chest. It fell back on the ground dead, but it's 'eye' looked at me and got right back up. "What the hell!" I yelled as the same one and many others came at me. I swung again and Ed sliced another and we watched as they kept dieing, but then got right back up. "Their not dieing!" Ed said panicking.

One charged at Scar and we saw him use his hand to explode the things brain. But it looked at him and attacked again. "What is this!?" he asked. The three other men changed forms and started hitting the creatures as well. No matter what we did, they just wouldn't die! "What the hell is this Ed!?" I yelled. "How the hell should I know!?" he answered as he stabbed one of the beings and it tried to bite him. He jumped away. "That damn thing just tried to eat me!" I stopped for a second and looked around.

 _Their not really fighting us! Their trying to freaking EAT us!_ "Guys! Watch out for their mouths! Their trying to eat us!" One jumped on my back and was about to bite my shoulder. I pulled a knife from my bracer and jabbed it right through his jaw. It fell off me and I lost my grip on the knife. The being stood back up and came at me again, the knife still in his jaw. "It doesn't seem like they're thinking! It's like all they know to do is eat!" I yelled. Ed clapped his hands and made a spear from the ground.

"Are these things homunculi!?" I blurted out. "I don't think so! Their not healing!" Ed answered and bashed a group of beings with his spear. "Yeah, well their not dieing either!" I yelled as I sliced two of them clean in half. "Now stay down!" I yelled at them. But no, they just started crawling back at me. "Oh come on!" I whined and sliced another one. "They keep coming!" Darius stated. "NO SHIT!" I yelled back.

I must be a master at coming up with ideas, cause another one came to mind. I pointed myself at a large group of the beings, pressed my hand down on the ground, and used my bracer array. "EVERYONE, GET DOWN!" Everyone dropped to the ground as I pulled all the metal in the room to me. I made dozens of daggers with it, and forced them from the ground at high speed right at the beings. The daggers flew in every direction from me, hitting a very large amount of the dummy's.

They all dropped, but again came right back up. "Nice trick, Drake! But it didn't work!" Ed yelled at me. "You got any better ideas!?" I retorted. The dummy's just kept coming, a lot of them with daggers sticking out of them. "Drake! Can you use your arrays to get the daggers back and try again!?" Ed asked as I sliced yet another dummy. "No! The metal has to be in or on the ground for it to work! But do have another idea!" I sliced another dummy and ran up to one of the ones with a dagger in it.

I grabbed the dagger and used my array to cause the dagger to split into dozens of tiny pieces and shoot in all direction inside the dummy's body. "Ha! Eat that!" Aaannnd no. Didn't work. The dummy still came at me. "Damn it! Nothing is working!" I yelled as I kept swinging at the dummy's. "Drake! Grab on!" Ed yelled to me and held the spears blunt end to me. I grabbed it and he swung me around in circles around him. I held out my sword, slicing the dummy's as I passed by. Ed stopped swinging me and we saw even that didn't work.

"Damn it! There has to be something that will work!" I turned around just in time to see that some were heading to the door we came in through. _SHIT! WE CAN'T LET THEM OUT!_ "ED! THE DOOR!" I yelled and he turned to see them. "Crap! Their getting out!" Ed said, then clapped his hands and made a wall to block the door. "Whew. Nice save Ed!" I commented. "Yeah, but how are we going to kill these things!?"

"Will you stop asking me that!? I don't know!" Suddenly, one of the dummy's grabbed my arm and bit into the bracer. "Get off me you freak!" I stabbed my sword right through it's head and it let go. "Ed! This is getting way too close! We need to figure out something, and fast!" I yelled as Ed swung his spear, knocking a dummy into another. "What the hell do you think I've been doing!? Having tea with them!?" One of them jumped on top of Ed and was about to bite his neck. I quickly threw one of my knives at it, hitting it in the side of the head, causing it to fall off him.

"Thanks Drake!" I nodded and turned back, but a dummy had my leg in it's grasp. "I said get off!" I swung across the ground, slicing through it's neck bone. I pulled my leg away and the damn thing started crawling after me, with it's head nearly off. "This is just ridiculous!" I stated. I tried to back away, but two more dummy's had both my legs and I couldn't move. "Ed! Little help please!" Ed turned and saw my predicament, then ran to me and used his spear to knock the dummy's away. "Whew. Thanks Ed."

It was starting to get real bad now. I was completely out of knives, and the three chimeras were getting tired. "Ed! We can't hold off much longer!" I swung at a pair of dummy's and threw them into a large group, knocking them all down. We did manage to kill a few of them, as in they completely died, but there were just to many. We knew that it was all over if we couldn't think of something, and fast. I was at my limit as well, cause I could feel the pain in my chest coming. If I pushed any harder, it might kill me.

Suddenly, another dummy jumped on Ed and went for his neck again. "ED!" _Damn it! I'm too far to get to him in time!_ I had no choice. I tossed my sword up a foot in the air, caught it by the blade, and threw it like a spear. The sword hit the dummy square in the head, knocking it off of Ed. I breathed a sigh of relief, but then a dummy jumped at me, causing me to fall onto my back. "DRAKE!" Ed yelled. The dummy jumped on top of me and bent down to bite my face, but I stuck my bracer in front of his mouth.

The dummy bit into the bracer and I was trying to push him away. "DRAKE!" Ed yelled again. He was trying to get to me, but the dummy's were blocking his path, he had no way to get to me. I was holding off the dummy on top of me, but in the corner of my eye, I saw another one running right at me. I had absolutely nothing to defend myself with, and I was completely pinned to the ground. I watched as the dummy ran right towards me, jaw open, then leaped right at me. "DRAKE!"

 **SNAP!**

The door that Ed had made to keep the dummy's in here suddenly exploded. A piece of it hitting the dummy running at me, and the one on top of me, knocking them away. "Things do always seem to get messy whenever you two are around. Even worse when together." I looked to the doorway to see none other than Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye, using the large gun I gave her, standing there. "Maybe I could lend you guys a hand." he said as I stood up and Ed tossed me back my sword. "You two keep making the strangest new friends everywhere you go."

Hawkeye aimed and fired the large gun, hitting one of the dummy's. The round passed through a number of them that happened to be in the way, blowing a one inch wide hole through them. "Hawkeye, no!" I yelled and she looked at me. "He's right! Save your ammo!" Ed followed. I sliced through another dummy and turned back to her. "Not even that large gun will stop them!" She lifted the barrel and with wide eyes. "Mustang! Stop standing there and kill these damn things!" Scar yelled at him.

Mustang turned to Scar. "Hey! Don't you dare give me orders!" I turned to him. "MUSTANG! SHUT THE HELL UP AND HELP US YOU IDIOT!" I yelled and swung at another dummy. The pains in my chest were getting worse. I was at my limit and couldn't do more without killing my self, and Mustang was just standing there. "MUSTANG!"

 **SNAP!**

The entire room erupted into an inferno, the flames rushing around us, but not touching us. We all watched as the dummy's all burned into nothing but ashes. When the flames subsided, all we could see was black dust on the floor all around us. I just couldn't believe it. We fought those damn things using every trick we had, and nothing worked. Mustang walks in, and in two seconds, their dust! That was just not fair! "I'm very impressed, Colonel." I said as I walked to him and shook his hand. "Quite the show. Too bad you missed the rest of it." We both smirked and I turned to Hawkeye.

"And I see you still have my old gun. Make any use of it? Beside dummy target practice." She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I've made some use of it. No one dares to come near me anymore." she stated as I chuckled. "Well, I'll be right back, I need to get my knives back." I walked around the room and picked my knives back up and put them away. After I got them all, I walked back to Mustang and Riza. But before I got to them, the ceiling exploded.

I saw two bodies fall from the hole. One was a small girl that landed on top of the large door. The other I saw was Envy, who landed in the doorway. "Aw great! Not you!" I yelled and the dust cleared. The small girl slid down the door and ran to Scar, who yelled at her. Envy looked at all of us and started taunting us. "You're Envy, right? You're the homunculus who can change his appearance at will." Mustang asked him. "Wow! You've heard of me! I'm flattered. Nice to meet you, Colonel."

Mustang and Envy continued to have a short talk to each other, and Mustang taunting Envy. "I've humored you long enough. So how about you answer a question of mine?" Mustang spoke flatly. Him and Envy both stared at each other for a moment. "I want you to tell me who killed Maes Huges."


	27. Defending The Gate

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Defending The Gate

Jess POV

Me and Fu continued to run alley to alley, making our way to the strange, but familiar scent. We finally came to an alley near a gate that lead up to Central Command with dozens of soldiers out front. I looked up to the upper platform above the gate and pointed. "He's up there." I said to Fu and he nodded. "I agree. That's where I feel the chi, along with the chi of Greed." I gasped. "Greeds up there?" I asked and he nodded. I turned back to the soldiers. "How do we get passed them?"

"Not to worry. I hate to admit it, but I'm not fast enough to get close. So you'll have to change and carry me with your speed." I looked at him and nodded. "Right." I took my shirt off and changed forms. Fu hopped on my back and held on. "You better hold your breath once we get close. I'll be using all the smoke and gas bombs I have left." he warned as I turned to him and nodded. "Ready?" He nodded. "Ready."

I ran at full speed right at the soldiers, hitting them with my fists as I passed by. Fu threw a handful of his bombs into the building and a second later, we heard them go off. "Now!" he yelled as I held my breath and ran in, him still clinging to my back. We knocked out all of the soldiers at the base of the stairs, then ran up them. "When we get up top, throw me right at him!" I didn't want to breath yet, so I just nodded. The men at the top were shooting down the stairs with automatic weapons and I was trying to avoid the bullets.

"Up the wall!" he yelled and I did so. I ran up and alongside the wall until we got a few feet from the door. I grabbed Fu and threw him right at the man standing over Greed. Fu launched into him with a fury of sword strikes, then backed away as I took a swing at the man as I passed by. But the man saw me coming and ducked, right at the split second my claws got to him. I ran over and stood next to Greed and Fu.

I looked at the man and was shocked to see that it was Fuhrer King Bradley! "Whew. Thanks for the help you two. You guys really saved my ass." Greed commented. Him and Fu had quick chat, and I looked to see pure anger in Fu's eyes. "So now I know, what the bastard who took my granddaughters arm looks like!" He charged at him and I ran to Bradleys right side to hit his flank. Greed ran and took his left, But Bradley stopped Fu's sword, kicked him back, and charged at me. _Damn he's fast!_ I aborted my attack and dove to the side to avoid his knives.

Bradley turned around, grabbed Greeds arm, and threw him against the wall. I took this chance to try another attack and swung at him, but he stepped to the side and hit my side before I could react. I got some distance from him as Fu charged at him again. He swung up at Bradleys face, but he tilted his head back, Fu's sword passing within millimeters. Fu recovered quickly and swung at his middle as I ran to where I was predicting he would dodge to. And it worked. Bradley hopped back a step, right into the path of my claws.

I hit his back and shredded his shirt, but didn't hit the skin. He turned to swing at me, but I cart wheeled away as Greed swung at his outstretched arm. Bradley twirled around and sliced his stomach, but he quickly healed. I leaped at Bradley again and he took a swipe at me, but I caught his wrist in my hand. He was dragged along as I ran by at full speed and I threw him towards the wall. But he did a small flip and landed on his feet. "You're quite the fighter." he stated in a calm voice. "You fight with the brutality of a wolf. True to your form!" he finished the statement charging at me with such a speed, I almost didn't see it.

I used my claws to block the knife as Greed jumped above Bradley and Fu charged on Bradleys right side. He kicked me in the gut with enough force that it sent me into the wall. I saw Bradley catch Greed's kick to his head, then throw him into Fu's swinging blade. Bradley charged at the both of them as Fu leaped into the air and Greed ducked. But Bradley kicked his face and shoved a knife through his coat, and into the ground, pinning him down. Bradley took a swing at Greeds neck, but I leaped at him at full speed, forcing him to jump away.

"Jess, get me loose!" Greed yelled and I tried to pull the knife out of the ground. I looked and saw Fu was having a hard time fighting Bradley on his own. "Damn it! You get it out! I gotta help Fu!" I yelled as I dove after Bradley. He caught Fu's sword hilt with his knife and slung the sword into the air. He then threw the knife at Fu's head, but he caught it a mere inch from his eyes. _He's unarmed!_ I swung at Bradley, but he grabbed my arm, and swung his down onto it. I heard and felt the bone break and I yelped out in pain as Bradley caught Fu's sword and charged at him.

"Certainly makes a difference when you have a weapon you're more comfortable with!" Bradley spoke as he swung down. Fu's knife broke in half and his bandanna split apart. Fu jumped away from Bradley as I pulled my broken arm and reset the bone, yelling in pain as I did. I looked back and Bradley was right in front of Fu, and he sliced across his chest, ripping his armor off. Fu fell to the ground and Bradley raised the sword for the killing blow, then swung down.

Suddenly, Greed flew passed Bradley, grabbing Fu on the way just as the sword struck the ground. At the same instance, I charged passed Bradley and took a swipe on the go. But he was too fast. He swung around and sliced my back wide open. I fell to the ground and with momentum from my running, slid across the ground, stopping right next to Greed. I tried to stand up, but the pain was getting to me. The fall had caused my fracture to unset, so I had to bear to pain of setting it again.

I kept trying to get up, but I was losing too much blood from the hit on my back. After a minuet, I finally got to my feet. I looked over to Fu and saw he was bleeding profusely from where Bradley had hit him, and he had a smirk on his face. "I need rest. Time for this old man to find rest." Fu spoke then slugged Greed on the neck, knocking him to the ground. "Harden your shield Greed and protect the young lords body! WOLF! THROW ME!"

I ran to him, grabbed his robes, and threw him with as much force as I could. In mid flight, Fu opened his robes and pulled the pins on numerous explosives strapped to his stomach. My eyes went wide with shock. "YOU STUBORN FOOL!" me and Greed yelled as Fu landed on Bradley and waited for the bombs to go off. But Bradley swung at his stomach and when the blade stopped moving, we could all see the tops of the bombs with the fuses still burning, sitting in a row on the blade. Blood poured out of Fu's wound as he fell to the ground.

 _NOW!_ I ran straight at Bradley while Fu's body was in the way, ran under it, and grabbed Bradley in a bear hug, digging my claws into his back. "NOW BUCCANEER!" I felt a horrible pain as Buccaneer came up behind me and Fu and stabbed Bradleys sword right through all three of us. "The Philosophers Stone might have given you the eyes of a god," Buccaneer started. "But no one can dodge an attack." I followed. "IF THEY CAN'T SEE IT COMING!" we both finished in unison. Buccaneer chuckled. "Alright old man. You might be going to hell, but you're not going alone." He stated and I was starting to lose consciousness. "Yeah, we'll both keep you company on the way down." I finished in a wheeze. Fu sighed. "You all have my gratitude. I would love your company. Thank…..you.." he finished with his dying breath.

Bradley put his foot to my chest and pushed us all away from him. We all fell to the ground as Ling charged at Bradley in full rage. He continued to fight him as I pulled myself away from Fu's body. I felt the blade cut me more inside as I eased away and the blade left my body. I slowly stood up, but fell right back down onto the ground. I looked over at Fu's body and saw Lan Fan there. I dragged myself over and dropped next to him. My head was spinning, my body going numb, my strength leaving me.

I was trying to breath, but they were getting shallow. "Buccaneer." I called, but he didn't answer. "Buccaneer." I called again but still no answer. I coughed blood as I felt my body unwillingly changing me back to human form from lack of strength. Lan Fan turned to me and rolled me onto my back. "You need to rest! Just breath! You're going to be fine!" I heard her words, but I just laughed at them. "No, it's done. My body is calling it quits, so it's over for me."

"Don't talk like that! You need to stay alive for your family! You can't leave them!" Lan Fan yelled to me. I turned my head towards Fu's body. "Sorry to keep you waiting Fu. I'm on my way….to join you downstairs." I said with a grin. I didn't know him for long at all, but I came to love the old man. Lan Fan was still yelling at me, but I was so light headed that I couldn't understand her. I looked back up to the sky. I couldn't move my body, nothing, none of it would move. My breathing was so shallow, I couldn't see my chest rising anymore.

"Eliz..ebeth.." My voice was choking. "Sar...rah….Just...tin..mommy...loves….you." Everything was starting to turn white. I could see Lan Fan yelling at me, but no sound came to my ears. "Drake….I'm…..sorry…...please...forgive..me. I...love you…..freak.." I spoke the last word as my breath left me and my eyes closed, leaving me in eternal darkness.


	28. Revenge

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Revenge

Drake POV

Mustang and Envy stared at each other for a moment. "I want you to tell me who killed Maes Huges." Mustang ordered sternly and we all gasped. "Maria Ross did. Isn't that why you burned her to death?" I turned to him. "Shut your face, Envy!" I growled and he glared at me. "I know she was not the one who killed him." Mustang added. He and Envy argued about the matter until Envy started laughing evilly. "Congratulations, Colonel Mustang. You finally hunted down your culprit." he answered.

Envy continued to laugh as me and Mustang looked at each other confused, then back to him. "You say that you killed Huges?" I asked. "I highly doubt a moron like you could have pulled that off." Mustang added and Envy stopped laughing. "Moron?" he asked then began to change shape. "You call me a moron when he was the one stupid enough to fall for a cheap trick like this!" he said as he finished changing into...Gracia Huges!

Everyone was gasped with complete and total shock. "Ha! You all should see your faces! That was the look Huges had when I shot him!" I gritted my teeth in pure anger. "You disgusting monster!" I growled and Envy giggled. "Oh, I could see every emotion he had when his own wife shot him! And it was GREAT!" I felt like my teeth were about to shatter cause I was clenching them so hard. "That's enough!" I looked at Mustang. "You were stupid to enough to confess, and even more so to boast! Everything you just said was fuel to your funeral pyre!"

Mustang raised his hand and tightened his glove. "I think I'll begin, BY BURNING OUT YOUR TONGUE!" He snapped his finger and Envy erupted in a huge ball of fire. I charged at him with my sword, but Mustang exploded the ground right in front of me, causing me to stop. "No you don't, Blade! He's mine! And mine alone!" he warned and I turned to him and nodded. "Well, you heard him. Lets find this 'father' guy." Gerso stated and started to walk. But Envy morphed his arm in front of us, blocking our way.

"You're not going anywhere! I'll finish with the Colonel, then get back.." Envy was silenced by Mustang igniting his mouth with fire. "Keep your eyes on me, Envy! Our conversation is the only one that should concern you!" Mustang growled at Envy as he stood back up. "It's amazing how quickly the tongue can be reduced to nothing but grease. It burns rather easily, doesn't it? So how bad does it sting, Envy?"

Me and Ed turned to Hawkeye. "You guys going to be okay on your own?" Ed asked and she nodded. "All of you go! We can handle him on on our own!" I was a little concerned. "Are you sure?" I asked. "Blade! Fullmetal! The Lieutenant said go! You have more important matters to deal with! Now Leave!" Mustang yelled to us. I didn't want to leave, but we had no choice. Mustang was right, we had to stop 'father' and put an end to this. I nodded and we walked past Envy through the doorway, leaving him to be dealt with by Mustang.

We walked through the hall until it narrowed and familiar strange pipes formed the walls. The little girl walked ahead of us, guiding us to where she could feel 'fathers' presence. "I don't like this, my skin is crawling from this place." I stated and the little girl turned to me. "I'm not surprised. We're not far now. The place ahead is crawling with rancid chi." I still didn't understand what this 'chi' stuff was, but I knew that it was really bad up ahead. Ed stopped walking, and Scar and I turned to him. "Ed? What is it?" I asked and Ed looked at Scar. "Scar, I need to talk to you." Scar just stared at him. "It's about the Flame Alchemist, isn't it?" he asked and Ed nodded. I knew what he was going to talk about.

"You're talking about his pure hatred, aren't you? I saw it in his eyes." I stated. "It wasn't long ago that I was fueled by revenge. I know it all too well. The way he's headed, he will burn himself with the flames of hatred. It's doubtful that he will ever recover." Scar explained. Me and Ed looked at each other, then turned back down the hallway when we heard one of Mustangs explosions. I balled my hands into fists, then started walking. "Drake?" Ed spoke.

I turned back to them. "I understand how he feels all too well. The loss of a loved one would send anyone off the deep end. I'm going to stop him before he throws himself into darkness. Don't try to stop me." I turned back and continued walking. "Wait." I turned and saw Ed and Scar walk up to me. "We're going with you. We'll stop him before he destroys himself." Ed stated and I nodded. We began running towards the sounds of Mustangs explosions.

We almost got lost because the hallway opened up to numerous other hallways. We had to constantly stop and wait for another one of Mustangs explosions to get our bearings. We ran from hallway to hallway. Another explosion, and it was close. We came around a corner to see Envy kneeling on the ground in front of Mustang. They both stared at each other for a moment. "You damn human! Don't you underestimate me!" Envy yelled, then erupted into a hailstorm of large explosions. Mustang yelled, then sent one last, very large fireball at Envy.

We heard Envy yell out a death cry as the flames disappeared. Envy was hunched back and started turning to dust and blow away. Something small and green pulled itself from his body's head and fell to the ground. Mustang walked over and slammed his foot on top of it. "So this is your true form, huh? You're ugly. So now I get it. Envy means 'jealousy', and jealousy is an ugly thing." We saw Envy squirm under his boot, trying to run for his life. "Please, no! I don't wanna die!" he yelled.

"I'm not giving you a choice. Now burn in hell!" Mustang yelled as Hawkeye pointed her gun at his head and Ed used alchemy to morph the ground and throw Envy to him. "What the hell do you all think you are doing!?" Mustang growled. "That's enough, Colonel. We'll handle him from here." Hawkeye stated. "No! He is mine! Give it here, now!" he yelled as he turned to us. Me and Ed gasped when we saw his eyes were filled with nothing but pure rage and hatred. "Not gonna happen, Mustang! Hawkeye said that we will take care of it!" I yelled.

"That is an order! Give it to me right now!" Mustang yelled again. "I wont!" Ed yelled back. "That thing deserves the worst death possible! Give it to me!" Mustang kept yelling and I drew my sword. "If you want him, come and get him. If you continue like this, you'll become a monster. If you do, I'll kill you like one." I warned. He just glared at us with his rage filled eyes. "If that's how you want it, then I'll just burn you along with him!" he threatened. "Go right ahead and try it! But first, take a good look at your face!" Ed stated and pointed at him.

"Is that the face plan to wear when you lead this country!? If you do this, then your no different than them!" Ed continued. "So you're going to give in to the passion of a beast? Go right ahead. I wont stop you." Scar spoke up and I turned to him. "Some help you are!" I retorted and he looked at me. "What right do I have to keep someone from extracting vengeance? If you want vengeance, then take it, kill this monster. But still, I shudder at the thought of a world created by a man held captive by his own hate, and becomes it's ruler." Scar finished and Mustangs eyes went wide. I took a step forward. "We all miss Huges, Mustang. All of us! He was a great man and the best friend anyone could ask for. But doing this to avenge him would only make him mad at you. Do you really want that?" I asked and Mustang lowered his head.

"I will not let you kill him. But that being said, I will not let him live either. I'll dispose of him myself." Hawkeye added and Mustang gritted his teeth. "But I finally did it! Months of searching, and I finally tracked him down!" he yelled. "We know that, Mustang! But none of this will help anything!" Ed yelled back. "This is pure hatred. And we will not let it destroy you." Hawkeye finished. We watched as Mustang clenched in sorrowful pain.

For the next few minuets, he and Hawkeye talked about what she would do if he let her shoot him. We watched as he balled his fist tightly, flung his arm to the nearby hallway, and sent a fireball down it. He turned around, grabbed Hawkeyes gun, and lowered it to her side. "Please, forgive me." he spoke, then fell to his knees. Hawkeye fell down right beside him and they both just sat there.

"Are you all morons!?" Envy yelled. He began ranting at us about becoming friends and who did what to who. He sat there in Eds grasp and continued to try and taunt us all into fighting each other. We all just stared at him. After about five minuets of his taunting, he stared at all of us in confusion. "There's no way! How could you team up like this, after everything that has happened!? It's not possible!" I sheathed my sword and watched as Envy started yelling at us.

Ed then asked Envy if he was jealous of us, us humans. He talked to Envy about all the things that humans were capable of, and he was jealous of us. Envy stared at Ed with wide eyes, shocked at what Ed had just told him. Then he got mad and squirmed out of Eds hand and bit him as Ed tried to get a better hold on him. He fell to the ground and mumbled to himself. We were shocked to see him start crying. "Me? Envy? Jealous of you!? Of humans!?" he yelled, then sat up.

"I'm a homunculus! And that pipsqueak kid saw right through me!" We were shocked again when Envy started laughing. "I guess we'll see how long this adorable little alliance of yours holds up. Either way, best of luck to you pipsqueak, freak." He reached inside his mouth and pulled out his Philosophers Stone and held it in his hand. We couldn't believe our eyes when Envy shattered his own stone. He fell over and started crumbling into dust. "Goodbye, Edward and Drake." he spoke, then disappeared.

Mustang stood up and walked to where Envy once was. "He took the easy way out and killed himself. Damn coward." he stated and finished walking to us. "This matter is over. We have a job to do, so lets go." We all nodded and turned to walk down the hallway.


	29. The Doctor

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

The Doctor

Drake POV

We continued down the hallway towards where we believed we would find 'father'. We walked for about twenty minuets until a dull pain hit my chest, causing me to stop. "We're getting close." Scar stated. "So I'm not the only one who can feel it." I followed and Ed turned to me. "So you feel it too, huh?" I looked at him and nodded. "You mean you can feel his pretense or something?" Hawkeye asked and Ed turned back forward. "Lets just say we've got a bad feeling. Like our old wounds are starting to ache."

We looked down the hallway, and saw an opening at the end. "This is it, I know it." I stated and Ed nodded. "I agree. It's up ahead." I walked up and put my hand on Eds shoulder. "Lets do this." I again stated and we started walking to the doorway. We walked through and entered a large room, with a man crouched down over an array. The man saw us, slowly stood up, and put his hands in his lab coat pockets. "Well now, I wasn't expecting to have an audience. You're going to give me performance anxiety." he finished with a smile.

I drew my sword as Ed made his arm sword. "Who the hell are you?" Ed asked and the guy just stared at us. "How should I answer that?" He lifted his head as if in thought. "You might know me as the man who created King Bradley." he answered and we all gasped. "You created Wrath!?" I yelled and the guy looked at me. "Oh yes. That was my most proudest accomplishment." he acknowledged. "So it's safe to say that you're working with them." Mustang stated as the man turned to him. "I didn't realize that was you. And here I was thinking you were at the radio station when in fact, you came to meet me in person!"

The man raised his hand into the air. "I can't tell you how much trouble you've saved me, Colonel Mustang!" Suddenly, a dozen strange, elder men wielding swords fell from a hole in the ceiling and ran at us. We all darted in different directions as the men slashed at where we were just at. They too split up and came after all of us together. I had two of them on me, and they were fast! "Who are these guys!?" Ed yelled as he blocked a swing. "Are they more dummy soldiers!?" Mustang followed as three of them surrounded him and Hawkeye.

"No! They move too deliberately!" Scar answered trying to hit one with his hand. "He's right!" I yelled as I blocked a blow to my chest. "Their actually thinking about their attacks!" I finished as I swung at the other that was after me. These guys were running around all over the place. I try to hit one, that one ducks away and the other hits me back. "These men were at one time the other candidates to become King Bradley." the doctor guy answered for us.

I swung again at the old man, but he just ducked and jabbed at me with his sword. I blocked it with my bracer, and swung again. "But these are just the leftovers now. But one thing is certain, after years of training, they're skilled warriors in their own right." the doctor finished. One swung at me and I blocked it with my sword, locking us together. I saw the other come up behind me, so I drew my knife from my bracer and swung backwards at him.

He jumped away, but the one I was locked with punched me in the face, breaking our lock. The one I swung my knife at charged at me and I threw my knife at him, but he blocked it. "Okay, try this!" I used my array, pulled one of my twin knives from the ground, and threw it. He blocked it, but it split like intended and the other half stuck into his right shoulder. "Got ya!" But it only pissed him off, cause he charged again, but much faster. "Shit!"

He swung at me and hit my left arm, but he only grazed it. "Okay, how bout again!?" I yelled as I pulled a triple knife and threw it. It almost didn't work, cause he hit two of them, but he wasn't expecting a third. It hit him in the stomach and he knelt down from the hit. "Stay down!" I yelled. Suddenly, the other was right behind me and swinging at my middle. But he fell over when Hawkeye shot him. "Thanks!" I yelled and turned to the one I had hit just before.

Then another man leaped at me from the side but I blocked it with my sword. I threw a knife at him, but he darted to the side causing me to miss. I pulled another knife from the ground, predicted his movement, and threw it. But I was just a hair too slow cause it passed right by his head. "Damn it! This guy's a freaking rabbit!" I complained as I swung at him and missed again. "Hold still!" I yelled as swung twice and kept missing. The man came at me at a full run, so I went at him as well.

Just as we got to each other, I swung away from him and hit him behind me as he passed, blocking his swing with my metal leg. "Eat it!" I yelled as he fell to the ground. I looked back and saw the one I hit in the stomach come back at me. I smirked, dropped my sword, and pressed my hands to the ground. I used the arrays the form six daggers and force them from the ground at him at high speed. Four missed, but two struck him in the neck and chest, and he fell to the ground. "Nice try." I stated.

"That should do it." the doctor spoke then looked at us. "I suppose it's time we got started." Hawkeye turned and tried to shoot the man, but one of the men jumped in front of the bullets. The doctor called off some random numbers and told them to join him by his side. Then, five of the men attacking us ran to the doctor. "What's he doing!?" Ed yelled. We looked down to see a human transmutation circle at the doctors feet. "Now then! Here goes!" the doctor yelled as he pressed his hand to the array.

The array activated and the whole room began to shake. "What have you done!?" Ed yelled and the doctor looked at him. "This? This right here is just the beginning. You seem like a smart boy. Do you know how many military alchemy labs there are here in Central?" Ed glared at him. "The last I heard, they only got four in the city!" he answered. Then something clicked in my head. "Ed! The fifth lab! There's five!" Ed turned to me and gasped. "Five! It's a transmutation circle! The entire city!"

Suddenly, the whole room turned purple, and numerous black hands rose from the ground around the doctor. The hands grabbed the men around him and they were broken down to nothing. Then the blue alchemy sparks erupted around Ed, and a big eye opened up at his feet. "WHAT!?" Ed yelled. We all watch in complete horror as black hands came from the ground and grabbed Ed! "ED!" I yelled as I saw him break apart from the hands touching him."No! Fullmetal!" Mustang yelled as Ed completely disappeared.

I turned to the doctor. "What the hell did you do!?" I yelled at him. Then the old men came at us again. I blocked as one swung at my neck, then threw my last knife at him. He dodged to the left and I swung at him, but hit nothing but air. He had ducked under my blade and got behind me. I reversed the grip on my sword and stabbed backwards at him. He swung my blade out of the way and charged me, but before he could swing, I jumped back at him. We crashed into each other and I dropped to the ground and stabbed up at him.

He leaned back away from the blade, kicked my arm over, and stepped on it, pinning it down. He stepped over me and held his sword to my neck, he had me. I looked over and saw that the others had been caught as well. The doctor suddenly started clapping his hands. "Alright, good. Just hold them there. Here we are, Colonel Mustang. I'm afraid we're out of time. At this point, you have no choice but to cooperate with us. I would like you to to perform some human transmutation for us and open a portal." I gasped.

"Are you serious?" Mustang asked as the doctor smiled. "That, or your sword swinging friend over there can do it." he said pointing at me. "Go to hell, bastard!" I yelled in reply. "It doesn't matter who. A parent, a loved one, or even a friend. Like that man you were close to. Huges, right?" I saw Mustang twitch with anger. "Or you." he pointed at me. "How about a chance to go back home, to your own world?" I gasped and my eyes went wide. "How do you know about that!?" I demanded, but he just smiled.

"It doesn't matter what you want. I'll get everything set up for you while you think about what you want." I growled in anger. "So, you want one of us to be your sacrifice." I stated and the doctor turned to me. "Of course. It doesn't matter who, as long as one of you performs the transmutation." he answered with a wide smile. "So that's why you chose the Elric brothers!?" Mustang asked and the doctor turned to him. "Yes, it is." he answered. "They told me human transmutation couldn't be done. So why the hell would we do it knowing it would fail!?" Mustang yelled.

"Yes, you're right there. But all I need you to do is open the portal and then return." the doctor returned and I gritted my teeth. "NO! Not a chance! We wont be your puppets! If you want it opened, then open it yourself!" I yelled. There was a brief silence and then the doctor adjusted his glasses. "I told you, we have run out of time." he stated. I saw a quick movement in the corner of my eye, and I turned to see Hawkeye, with her neck slit open. She gave a quiet gasp for air then fell to the ground.

"RIZA!" "LIEUTENANT!" me and Mustang yelled in unison. She layed there on the ground bleeding to death. "Now then, maybe you've had a change of heart. What say you Mustang, Blade?" We both turned to the doctor. "You're dead!" I yelled, and then watched as the man who had slit Hawkeyes throat drag her to the transmutation circle. "Now, perform the transmutation and become the fifth sacrifice." the doctor spoke.


	30. The Fifth Sacrifice

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

The Fifth Sacrifice

Drake POV

Hawkeye layed there at the doctors feet, blood pouring from her neck. "Now, perform the transmutation and become the fifth sacrifice." the doctor spoke. Me and Mustang glared at him with pure fury. "Come on. If you two don't hurry, the Lieutenant will be lost to you forever." I wanted to take the risk of my neck being slit, just for a chance at that bastard doctor. "Ah, I understand. Would you like to transmute her after she's already died? That would be acceptable." the doctor taunted and we heard Hawkeye take a breath. "I'm not...gonna die." I gasped at the fact that she could still talk.

"What you don't know, is that...I'm under strict orders...not to die." The doctor turned to her. "If it was that easy to obtain an immortal body my dear, it wouldn't be sporting now, would it?" he said then turned to Mustang. "So what will it be Mustang and Blade? The woman is about to die. If you don't act, she'll bleed to death. All of that blood, right before your eyes." We watched in horror as her blood formed a large puddle around her. "Luckily, I happen to be a doctor who knows the use of alchemy." the doctor stated and reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a small vial with a red liquid in it. "And I have a Philosophers Stone to add to the bargain as well. Meaning this: I have, with all certainty, the power to save this woman's life. But if you don't hurry and make up your minds, she will die, and there will be nothing I can do." _I'm going to kill him!_ The doctor continued to taunt us into performing the transmutation over and over. "I swear to you, I am going to kill you!" I yelled at him again and he turned to me. "Go ahead and try. Once you open the portal you can do whatever you wish."

"NO! We won't perform the transmutation! And that, is FINAL!" Mustang yelled. "So, you'd forsake her? How very cold of you two." the doctor stated and I growled. "Us, cold!? And what about these guys!? You seem to have no problem using them as pawns for your sick game!" The doctor turned to me. "These men are more than happy to die for me. They were abandoned as children, but I took them in. I gave them knowledge, and purpose. For the kindness that I have shown them, they remain grateful to me."

"And that just the sort of overconfidence that could get you in trouble" Mustang retorted and the doctor looked at him confused. "What do you.." Suddenly, the doctor just...disappeared! "What...the..." I started. Me and Scar looked on in shock and confusion as to what just happened. "He vanished." Scar stated. We all looked around to try and figure out where he went. Something dropped from the ceiling and landed on the mans head who was standing next to him a second ago. I looked and saw that it was the vial with the Philosophers Stone.

The man looked up, and froze in shock. "What the hell is going on?" I mumbled. Suddenly, the little girl and Zampano dropped from the hole in the ceiling and attacked the old men pinning us down. One of the girls knives hit the guy pinning me in the leg. As he fell down, I grabbed his swords blade, transmuted it into a short sword and stabbed him through the neck. I stood back, grabbed my sword, and ran straight to Hawkeye.

One of the men jumped in front of Mustang. "OUT OF MY WAY!" he said, snapping his fingers and causing an explosion that tossed the man towards me. I jumped and twirled in the air, slicing the man in half. "And stay out of mine!" I yelled. We both got to Hawkeyes body and checked to see if she was alive. "Lieutenant!" Mustang yelled and I looked at her neck, then placed my hand against it. "Mustang, I can't stop the bleeding!" I blurted out. We sat there trying to wake her up, but she wouldn't move an inch. "Hawkeye! Wake up!" I yelled.

Suddenly, the girl came up to us. "She comes first!" she yelled as she drew a basic array and threw five knives on the arrays points. There was a flash of light, and I could see that the neck wound had closed up. Our hearts jumped as Hawkeye drew breath. "Lieutenant!" Mustang spoke and grabbed her into a small hug. "I've stopped the bleeding for now. But she still needs to see a doctor." the girl warned us and I turned to her. "Thank you!" I sternly said and she nodded. I turned back to Mustang. "I'm going to give them a hand. You stay here and keep her out of the fight!" I ordered and ran to join the others.

I ran up to one of the men and swung at him, but he dodged, right into Darius's fist. He clocked him and threw him right back at me, impaling him on my sword. "Nice one, Darius." I commented and he nodded. We both ran to go after the others and I caught one trying to swing at Zampano from behind. He saw me and blocked, but I slid between his legs, stood up, and stabbed backwards. My sword went right through him, but he grabbed the blade and held it, swinging around to catch me in the head.

I let go of my sword, pulled a knife from the ground, and sliced upward across his chest and face. I grabbed my sword and his body slid from it as he fell to the ground. I looked around and saw that all the old men were now dead. I sheathed my sword and began picking up my knives. "Well, that's the last one." Darius stated. I picked up my last knife and walked to the group as I put it back under the bracer.

"Thanks for you're guy's help. I thought we were done back there." I stated and Darius turned to me. "Sure. It was no problem." I looked and saw the little girl standing next to us. "I apologize for being rude. May I asked your name?" She looked at me and smiled. "It's May Chang. But you may call me May." she answered and I nodded. "Thank you so much for the help, May." She nodded and looked around. "Now, where is that stone?" she asked.

We saw it sitting on the ground near the door. We heard footsteps and looked to see none other than...King Bradley! He stopped and picked up the stone. "King Bradley!" Mustang growled and I turned to him. "No. That's Wrath." I corrected and turned back to him. As I looked at him, something was odd about him. He was bleeding. His wounds were not healing at all. "It's been quite some time. Eh Colonel Mustang, Blade Alchemist?" Wrath asked and I just glared at him.

Wrath argued with us about how he despises humans and that he had thought that Mustang would definitely had used human transmutation to save Hawkeye. Me and Scar noticed May tense up and look at the ground. "What's wrong?" Scar asked. "He's under us...their leader is down there still." she stated. We heard the doctor, who Gerso had as a hostage, yell about not letting us near him. We suddenly heard a slicing noise and turned around to see blood pour from the ceiling and Gerso fall to the ground.

"Gerso!" Zampano yelled and ran to him. "Run...get outta here." Gerso warned. We then heard a slithering noise above us in the pipes. We watched as a black form came from the hole and drop to the ground, and we could that it was Pride. "Oh, great. Not you again!" I complained as Mustang handed Hawkeye to Darius. "Please, look after her for now." Suddenly, Wrath charged at us, grabbing two swords on the way. Mustang snapped his fingers to try and blow him up.

But Wrath used the force of the explosion to propel him at us even faster. He kicked Mustang in the chest and forced him to the ground with him standing on top of him. Wrath then stabbed his swords through Mustangs hands and into the ground, pinning him down. "Mustang!" I yelled as I tried to get to him. But Prides shadows came at me and kept me back. "Damn you Pride!" I yelled as the doctor stood up. "Very good. Job well done, Bradley. That's the kind of man I brought you up to be..."

The doctor was silenced by Pride running him through by one of his shadows. We watched in horror as Pride completely encased the man in his shadows, and held him over Mustang. Then we watched as Pride used his shadows to make a transmutation circle around Mustang. "Well Colonel Mustang, looks like you're our fifth." Pride stated coldly. "Oh no you don't!" I yelled and tried another attack. But again, Pride came at me with his shadows in all directions.

"You stay put, Blade Alchemist." Pride sneered. "Whether you like it or not, we're going to force you to open the portal. We've acquired an alchemist who possesses knowledge on human transmutation." Wrath explained. I yelled out and tried to attack again. "Mustang!" Pride hit me in the chest with his shadow, sending me into the air. I crashed to the ground with a loud thud. "No!" I yelled as Pride used his shadows to grab onto Mustangs arms and legs.

"He's safely pinned. Move back Wrath." Pride ordered and Wrath stood up and walked out of the circle. "I wonder, what will be taken from you in exchange, Mustang." Wrath spoke. The shadow array grew bright as sparks danced around Mustang. I got up and tried to get him out, but May stopped me. "No! You'll get caught up in it too!" she yelled. We all watched in pure horror as Mustang was deconstructed and he disappeared. "MUSTANG!" I yelled.

Mustang was gone, and we saw a big, black, blob fall to the ground and twitch. "The transmutation is complete." Wrath stated as we looked at the blob. "That's the guy with the glasses?" Zampano asked and Hawkeye turned to Wrath. "The Colonel?" she asked. "Oh, Mustang's still alive. Right about now, the good Colonel should be joining our father." Wrath answered then turned to us. "Although, I can't vouch for his physical well being."

Wrath slowly walked towards us. "Take a good look. See what kind of shape I'm in?" He stopped and crossed his swords, pointing at us in a ready stance. "Who among you would care for the illustrious honor of taking down the Fuhrer of Amestris?" He glared at all of us. "Or would you all like to take me on at once?" he taunted. No one made a single move for a moment.

I started walking forward and stopped right in front of Wrath. "Five months ago, we fought on the day of my State Alchemist exam. It was a good battle, but it ended in a draw. Then four months ago, in your office, I told you that I would be the one to kill you. I promised it. And I'm going to keep my promise." I drew my sword and turned to the others. "This is my warning, you all stay out of this. He is mine! If you interfere, I will kill you myself." They all nodded. "Good. Now leave."

"Good luck." Darius commented, and they all left the room. I turned back to Wrath. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Wrath. Lets finish this. A fight to the death. Only one of us will walk away." He nodded, and we both stood straight in a perfect attention position, swords at our sides. We raised our right swords to our faces in a salute, then back. We got into our ready stances, and waited.

"FIGHT!"


	31. Wrath And Fury

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Wrath And Fury

Drake POV

We both stood there, Wrath and I, swords at the ready. We simultaneously snapped our bodies straight to a military attention position, swords at our sides. We both brought our right swords to our faces and saluted each other, holding the pose for a moment. We returned the swords to our sides, then got into our ready stances. Neither of us made a move for the longest time. "To the death!" we spoke in unison. "FIGHT!" we both yelled.

We charged at each other and I swung at his middle. He blocked with his left sword and jabbed with his right. I lowered my hand and blocked with my bracer. I did a back flip to kick him in the face, but he leaned back, letting my foot pass by. I landed two feet away from him at swung diagonal across his chest. He turned to the side and backed up a step, my blade whizzing passed. He came back at me swinging one sword and jabbing with the other.

I kept blocking the jabs with my bracer and the swings with my sword. "I see your skills have greatly improved." he sternly stated as he twirled and swung upwards at me. I cartwheeled to the side and threw a knife at him. "Thanks. I'll take that as a complement!" I finished as I jabbed at him five times. He stepped side to side avoiding my attacks, then ran at me. I dropped onto my back and pole vaulted him over me using my legs. He landed on his feet as I flung myself back onto mine.

I pressed my hand to the ground, pulled a twin knife, and threw it. He cut it right down to center, causing the two halves to pass on either side of his head. "That trick wont work on me." he stated as he swung at my side. I blocked with my sword, his coming within a quarter inch of my side. "Pride told me all about your little knife tricks." He swung the other blade and I blocked it with my bracer. He gave me a sharp kick to the chest that threw me back.

I did a somersault and landed on my feet. "Oh yeah? Try this!" I pushed my hand to the ground and used my knife storm attack. He slid side to side avoiding them, but two of them grazed him on the cheek and forearm. "Impressive, even I will admit that. But it's not going to save you!" he finished with a very fast fury of jabs. _Shit!_ He got me three times, but only scratches. He swung down hard on me with both swords, but I raised mine and blocked both.

We stood there with locked swords, staring into each others eyes. "Just what are you fighting for!? Friends!? Family!? It all means nothing to us warriors!? Fighting and death is all that matters!?" he yelled at me and I grinned. "Fell for it." I used my array on my sword and morphed the blade, curving it into his face. He jumped back as the blade cut his ear. He stared at my sword where the blade was now bent half way down at a ninety degrees angle.

He turned to me. "Another new trick, huh? And here I thought that the metal had to be in the ground or in contact with you." I grinned again. "But I am contacting the metal." I opened my sword hand to reveal the modification I asked Ed for back in the woods near the slums. The handle cover of the sword at the hilt was turned into a very weak shell. It allowed me to break it by gripping it too hard. Underneath the shell, was a small pin that would jab into my hand through the gloves I was wearing when I gripped it. I could then use my own blood as the connection between the array, and the blade. This allowed me to be able to change the shape of my swords blade at will.

"Impressive. You never cease to impress me!" he said as he charged again. I blocked his sword with my arm and jabbed at him. He moved to the side, but I morphed my sword again, sending the blade jabbing right at him. It almost got him, by just a millimeter. He jabbed at me, but I grabbed his blade in my hand and shattered it. I morphed my blade again and caught him in the arm. But as I did, he swung down hard on my right bracer and shattered it. I gasped and hopped away.

We both stood there panting, watching each other. _I'm cutting it too close. I'm at my limit without using my abilities. If this keeps up, I may have no choice._ Wrath started laughing. "Now! This is a fight! I haven't had this much fun in years!" I glared at him. "Glad you're enjoying it. But it's time to end this." Wrath stopped laughing and glared at me. "You are such the competent fighter, Blade Alchemist! Far more so than your wife!" I froze. _Jess fought him!? They fought!?_ "Heh. Nice try Wrath. But I'm no idiot. Taunting me to make me lose concentration ain't going to work."

"Who ever said it was a taunt? You think that I'm lying? Your wife put up a good fight, before I killed her." I froze again as a chill ran down my spine. _He…..killed…..her? No...he's lying!_ "As I said, taunting me wont work." I stated and he chuckled. "You don't believe me? Then maybe you'll believe this." He took his shirt off and turned around, revealing a set of fresh claw marks on either side of his back. "That's the only damage that witch did to me, before she died." he stated turning back around. _No...those really were….her claws..She….she can't be….dead...No...No!…..NO!_

My eyes filled with pure rage as I glared at him. "You call yourself Wrath? You don't know the meaning of the word! I'll show you…..WRATH!" I charged at him at full speed swinging left and right. I had him on the total defensive now. He was shocked at the sudden increase of my speed and reflexes. When ever he swung, I caught his blade with my hand and glided it away. _I'M GOING TO HIT HIM WITH EVERYTHING! I WILL NOT HOLD BACK A THING! TO HELL WITH MY BODY! AS LONG AS HE DIES!_

I swung at him, but unintentionally left my arm open. He saw it and swung down, slicing off my right arm halfway down my forearm. The pain shot through my whole body, but I had to bear it. My arm fell to the ground with my sword still in it's grip. I grabbed the bottom of the sword and swung at his middle. _I'M GOING TO KILL HIM! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!_ I felt my insides being torn up by my super fast movements. I knew that I was killing myself, but I didn't care. I just wanted him dead!

I pressed my hand to the ground, pulled every single spec of metal in the room, and threw several dozen daggers at him. While he was busy dodging them, I run as fast as I could and swung at his left arm, cutting it off. He swung back and hit my sword with full strength, breaking it in half. "You sword is gone and you have no metal left! So what are you going to do now!?" he yelled at me as he swung left and right while I backed away.

I felt blood ooze out of my ears and mouth, and my body was begin to shut down, permanently. I coughed up a large amount of blood as I was backing away. "Pushed our limit have we!?" he asked as he started a stabbing fury at me. I stopped and roundhouse kicked his sword arm to the side and then kicked him in the chest. The force sent us both back a few feet. "You say I'm out of metal!? Well what do you think my legs are made of!?"

I press my hand to my legs, pulled off the covering plates and formed it to a carbon hardened short sword, and Wrath laughed. "We are both at our limits. It's evident that neither of us will leave this room now. We will both die here, either by being killed, or dying by his injuries." Wrath clearly stated. "Your right about that. We wont live much longer, so enough of this talk. LETS FINISH THIS!"

We charge at each other and swung at furious speeds. We kept blocking each others blows and returning them. He kicked me in the chest and I spewed blood from my lungs. I came right back and sliced his arm, then turned to backwards stab him in the gut. He jumped to the side and swung down and my right shoulder, cutting into it. I felt the immense pain, but ignored it and kept fighting. "You were right earlier," I started as I swung at his neck, but missed. "About what to fight for!"

He stabbed at me, but I twisted and sliced my blade across his outstretched arm, cutting it open. "You said us warriors have nothing to fight for," I blocked a swing from him and kicked his side. "Except to just fight and die." I blocked another strike, twirled around and swung up. But he swung the blade away, and kicked me in the back on the leg, knocking me down. He stood over me with his sword over me for a final blow. "That's right. Nothing. And that's all you'll ever be. Nothing but a warrior with nothing to fight for." he stated.

"Well, that's where your wrong." I leaped forward off the ground, running myself into his sword, right up to his face, and grabbed his swords blade at the hilt. "I have a family to fight for, AS A FATHER!" I used my array to bend his sword around, right back through my upper chest, and into his throat. The whole room went deathly quiet as me and him stared into each others eyes. We both spit up a large amount of blood and struggled to stay conscious.

After a long moment, Wrath released his sword, and me still attached to it, and backed away off the blade. I could see that the blade had severed his carotid artery in his neck, but missed his juggler. He fell on the ground, flat on his back, breathing shallow. I slowly walked over to him and knelt down. "I am a father, Wrath. I had everything to fight for. My friends. My family. My home. I had everything to fight for. 'That' is what a true warrior is. Someone with something to fight and die for. You, had nothing. That is why your fate was sealed, the moment you crossed blades with me."

"So, you think that because you had something to fight for…." he started in his wheezing voice. "That you were able to defeat me?" He gave a weak chuckle. "You only defeated me because you let your own wrath get the better of you." I watched as his face grew pale and his hair turn white. "You only won because you became a monster yourself. And now, that's all you'll ever be. And shortly, what you'll die as." His face was completely pale now and his hair ghost white. "I may die as a monster Wrath, but I will die a happy man, knowing that what I fought for, will live on." I stated.

His breath was now so shallow, I couldn't tell if he was even breathing at all, until he chuckled. "Are you sure about that? The people you fought for will always know you as a monster. So the things you fought for, are worthless, if you mean nothing to them. And now you know why I keep nothing to fight for. And I, am happy with that." he finished with his last dying breath. "As much as I hated you for all you did to us, I thoroughly enjoyed our fight. You have my gratitude, Wrath."

I stood up and morphed the sword back straight and pulled it out. I started to walk away, but only made it four steps before I fell flat on my face. I rolled over and looked at the ceiling. Now that my body was relaxed, it began to totally shut down. I couldn't move anything and my breathing was getting shallower. And not because of weakness, but because my lungs were not working. I tried to draw breath, but my lungs just wouldn't expand to pull in air. They had completely shut down. I felt my body start to go numb from the lack of oxygen. My chest pain was getting worse as it tried to get the air it needed, but the lungs wouldn't pull it in.

I layed there as my own body suffocated me. I tried to speak, because there was no air in the lungs, nothing came out. I layed there, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to breath. I could feel my heart beat getting slower and slower. My vision was blurring and turning white. _Jessica. I'm sorry. I didn't keep my promise. I failed you. I failed the kids. If you're alive, take care of our children. Don't let them forget me. Tell them I love them. If you are truly dead, then I'm on my way to join you. And we can watch our kids, together. Forever. I love you…...wolf._ My eyes closed as I felt my heart beat, for the last time.

 **Hello readers. First, I do apologize for the disappointment. The next chapter will take place four days after the defeat of 'Father'. The** **final** **fight was never meant to be in the main characters journey.**

 **Second, the story is far from over. This story extends way past the FMAB series. So please stay tuned. I hope you all have enjoyed reading as I enjoyed writing.**


	32. Recovering: Part 1

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Recovering: Part 1

Edward POV

 _It's been four days, four days since we killed 'father', and put an end to his plans. Al finally had his body back, but it came at a great cost._ "Brother?" Als voice pulled me from thought. I turned to him as he sat in the hospital bed recovering from malnutrition from spending five years inside the gate. "Yeah, Al." I looked up at me and smiled. "You think we could go visit the Colonel?" he asked and I nodded. "Sure, Al. Lets get you into the chair." I stood up from the chair I was sitting in next to his bed.

I helped him up and to the wheelchair next to the bed. He sat down and I wheeled him out of the room and down the hallway. "It's too bad that Ling and Lan Fan had to leave so soon." Al stated. We came around a corner and ran into Breda, who was holding a stack of books. "Oh, hey Alphonse, Edward. You guys on your way to see the Colonel?" he asked and we both nodded. "Yeah. Thought we would see how he's doing. And what about you?" Al asked.

"Oh. The Colonel asked me to pick up some books regarding Ishval. He wants to study up on it so he can work on setting things straight there." I smiled and shook my head. "Even with his injuries he's still trying to fight. That damn Colonel." I stated. We all walked into Mustang and Hawkeyes room and waved. "Hey guys. How are you feeling Al?" Hawkeye asked and Al smiled. "Oh, I'm fine. I may be here for quite a while though. The doctor says I can start trying to walk again in a few more days." Al answered.

"And how about you two?" I asked. "Well. Considering the circumstances, we're fine. We've decided to fix things in Ishval. We want to fix this country, so we'll start there." Mustang answered and I nodded. "That's good. I'm glad you're not giving up." I stated and they both smiled. We all heard footsteps running down the hall and to the door. The door rammed open and we all turned to see Lieutenant Falman. "Falman? What's going on?" Breda asked. "Guys! She's awake!"

Jess POV

I could hear some peoples voices, faint, but could still hear them. All I could see was darkness. I tried to open my eyes, but my head was hurting so bad. My whole body was hurting. I finally managed to open my eyes and see that I was in a small room loaded with the smells of disinfectants and blood. I looked around and I saw a tall metal stand with a jar hanging from it. There was a small tube coming from it, and as I followed it, I saw it was going into my arm. _A...hospital?_

I looked over and I saw a man with gray hair sitting on a chair reading a news paper. _Who is that? How did I get here? I...died...didn't I?_ I tried to speak, but only managed a moan. The man must have heard me, cause he lifted his head and looked right at me. His expression changed to that of shock when he looked at me. He immediately ran out of the room, and I could hear his footsteps disappear down the hall. _What is going on? Am I alive?_

A few minuets later, I heard the footsteps running back, but many more this time. The door opened and in ran Ed pushing someone in a wheelchair. "Jess! You're awake! Can you talk?" he yelled, hurting my head more. "Yeess." I said in a wheeze and Ed smiled, as did the man in the chair. "Do you want anything?" Ed asked. "Waaterr." I wheezed again. He nodded, then left the room, coming back a second later. He held the glass to my lips and I drank slowly, my throat now feeling much better. He pulled the glass away and stared at me. "What...happened." I moaned.

"You were close to death, Jess. Lan Fan bandaged your wounds the best she could, but it did save your life. Your back was hurt pretty bad, and still is, so don't move any yet. Your right arm is broken and you have a stab wound on your chest. Luckily, it missed your vital organs." Ed explained and I nodded. "Did..we win? Did we kill him?" I asked and everyone smiled. "Yeah, Jess. We won. It's all over." the man in the chair spoke. _His voice, it's familiar._

I pointed at him. "Who are you?" I asked and he and Ed were shocked. "Uh, Jess. It's me, Al. I got my body back." My eyes went wide with shock. "You….got it….back!?" Him and Ed both smiled and nodded. "Yup. Als in the flesh now." Ed stated and I smiled. I gestured him to come over. He slowly stood up and carefully walked to me. I pulled him down and hugged him with my one good arm. "I'm so happy for you, Al. I really am." Tears came to my eyes as I released him.

Then it suddenly hit me. I looked around and turned back to the brothers. "Where's Drake? Where's my husband?" I asked. Everyone's heads lowered and fear took me. I tried to sit up but the pain in my back killed me. I ignored it and kept trying. But Ed ran over and held me down. "Where is he!? Where is my husband!?" I yelled as I fought Ed. "Jess, calm down. He's alive!" Ed yelled and I calmed down. "Where!? Where is he!?" Ed let out a huge sigh and looked down.

"He's alive, here in the hospital." Ed answered. "Take me to him! Now!" I grabbed Ed shirt. "Jess. It's..not good." Ed stated and I glared at him. "Tell me! What is it!? What is wrong with my husband!?" I demanded and Ed sighed again. "He fought with Bradley, and he won. But he almost killed himself in the process. General Armstrong found him where we left him, near Bradleys body. Jess.." I saw a tear fall from Eds eye. "Tell me, please!" I begged and he sighed again.

"He's in a coma. And he can't breath on his own anymore." Fear took me even more. "What do you mean, Ed?" More tears fell from his eyes. "He destroyed the muscles and nerves that control his lungs. He can't control his lungs to breath in air. He's alive, but he will never breath on his own again. He'll never speak again, or even leave this hospital again." Complete horror took me. "He'll….never leave….or speak…?" I stuttered and Ed nodded slowly. "I'm sorry Jess."

No one said a word for the longest time. "Take me to him." I finally spoke. "Jess, are you sure?" Ed asked and I nodded. "I don't care what he looks like. Take me...to my husband." Ed nodded and slowly helped me into a wheelchair, being careful of my back and arm. "I'll be back, Al" Ed stated, then he pushed me out the room and down the hall. He wheeled me to the area for emergency care and we stopped at a door. "Jess, are you really sure you want to see him like this?" Ed asked again.

"Yes. Take me to him." He nodded and pushed the door open. He wheeled me inside, and I saw him, my husband. He had multiple tubes going into his arms and a large one going down his throat that was attached to a machine that was pumping air into his lungs. Ed pushed me up next to him. "Drake, can you hear me? It's the damn wolf. I'm here honey. Forever." Tears flowed down my face as I studied just how bad he was. Ed walked up next to me.

"This machine is the only thing keeping him alive. Without it….he'll die." Ed sadly stated. I started to break down at Drakes side as I grabbed his cold hand. "Drake...please...come back. We made a promise. We promised we would both go home to our kids. Please...wake up Drake. Please." Tears were flooding from my face as Ed put his hand on my shoulder. "Jess...the doctors don't think….he'll ever wake up." Those words sent me crying into my husbands hand. "No….he'll...wake up...He has to. He just has to."

"Jess….I'm sorry. I'll leave you two." Ed spoke, then left the room. I sat there next to my husband crying as hard as ever. "You have to wake up, Drake. Please…..wake up." I continued to sit there and cry, hoping that he would wake up. But I suddenly stopped when I felt his hand move in mine. I looked right at him and he had one eye open, tears falling from it. "Drake!" I kissed his hand over and over again. "You heard me. I just knew you'd wake up."

He gently removed his hand and gave a 'writing' gesture with it. I quickly grabbed a pen and paper from the desk next to us. I put the pen in his hand and the paper under it. I watched as he very lowly wrote on it. 'SHUT…...UP…...WOLF. More tears flowed from my eyes as I nodded at him. "Freak." I saw him slightly smile and he wrote more. LOVE…..YOU. I smiled more and kissed his hand. "I love you too, hon." More tears fell from his face as he closed his eye.

He opened it back up and wrote again. THOUGHT….YOU…..DIED. I froze in shock. "You thought I had died?" I asked and more tears came from his eye. I kissed his hand and looked at him. "Now why would I die? Someone has to keep an eye on you." He slightly smiled again and wrote more. THAT….MY…..JOB. I chuckled and looked at him. "And yet your here like this. I should have been there." I stopped for a moment. "I...should have been there with you. But I wasn't. I wasn't there for you."

I felt his hand on my cheek and he lifted my head. I saw that tears were now flooding from his eyes. He grabbed the pen and wrote more. NO…..I….SHOULD…...BEEN….FOR…..YOU. I smiled and kissed his hand again. "I told you I could take care of myself." He smiled and wrote more. AND ….LOOK….AT…..YOU….SLACKER. I chuckled at that. "At least I wasn't dumb enough to try and take Wrath on myself." He closed his eye and smiled. He opened it back up and wrote. I….HATE...YOU...WOLF. I laughed lightly. "All you can do is love me, freak."

He reached up and pressed his hand to my cheek, tears still flowing from his eye. We sat there for a long time, until he removed his hand. He grabbed the pen and wrote. PLEASE…..HONEY…..LET…..ME….DIE. My heart completely sank as I quickly looked at him. He couldn't breath or speak, but I knew he was crying. "What!?" He grabbed my hand and put it on the last thing he wrote.

"No! Honey, please! Don't give up! Please! Think of the kids! They need you! Please!" He moved my hand and wrote more. DON'T….LET...SEE...LIKE...THIS...LET…THEM…..REMEMBER….HOW…..I…...WAS…...PLEASE….LET...ME...DIE. I started crying into his hand. "Drake….no….you can't leave us. You can fight this. Just don't give up! Please!" He moved his hand and wrote more. HONEY…..PLEASE….LET...ME...GO. I couldn't take it anymore. I kissed his hand and wheeled myself out of the room and down the hall, crying hard as I went.


	33. Recovering: Part 2

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Recovering: Part 2

Edward POV

I had gone back and got Al from Jess's room and wheeled him back to his. I helped him up and onto his bed. "Alright. I'll get us some food, Al. I'll check on Jess and Drake on the way back." I stated and Al nodded. "I'll be right here, brother." he replied blatantly and I chuckled. I left the room and walked down the hall towards the hospital cafeteria. I came around the corner and bumped into Jess. "Oh, Jess. Sorry bout that." I looked and saw that she was crying really hard. I sighed and knelt down next to her.

"I'm sorry about all this Jess. And I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sure he'll wake up." I said in a low voice. "He already did." Jess stated and I twitched in shock. "He did!? That's great, Jess! But..why are you crying so hard?" I asked and she only cried more. "Because..." she started, but choked. "Because he..." I looked and her crying was getting worse and worse. "Jess, tell me. What's wrong?" She lifted her head to me and stared me in the eyes. "Because he wants to die!"

I froze as she turned and wheeled away from me in a hurry. I sat there in the hallway completely shocked. _He...wants to...die? But why!?_ I couldn't move cause I was so stunned by what I just heard. I finally stood up and walked to Drakes room. I knocked on his door and waited a second. "Drake, it's Ed. I'm coming in." I called through the door. I opened it and walked up next to Drake. He had one eye open and was watching me.

"Hey, Drake. How you feeling?" I asked and I saw him write something on a piece of paper next to him. LIKE….SHIT…..IDIOT…..YOU? I slightly chuckled and shook my head. "Been better, but then so have you." I saw him smile slightly, the best he could with a large tube stuck down his throat. He wrote again. SHE…..TOLD…..YOU? I lowered my head and nodded. "Why Drake? After all we've been through, all we fought for. Why do you want to give up?"

I watched him write again. CAN'T….LIVE….LIKE….THIS…..I'D…..RATHER…..DIE. Tears came to my eyes. "You can't just give up, Drake. You're only thinking of yourself. What would Jess do if she lost you?" I saw tears flow from his eye and he wrote again. SHE…..ALREADY…..HAS. I was on the verge of breaking down. "No, she hasn't. You're still here, alive. And that's all that matters to her. Would you really do that to her? Would you take yourself away from her?"

I saw that he was crying, even though he couldn't breath. I….WILL….NOT….LET…..HER….SEE…..ME….LIKE….THIS….FOR….THE...REST….OF….LIFE. I clenched my fist as anger fumed within me. "She would rather see you like this than never see you again. If you want to die, then go ahead Drake! Die! Take the only man she ever loved away from her! You're nothing more than a fool!" I yelled then left the room, slamming the door behind me. I stormed down the hallway, but only made it a few feet before I ran into Mustang with Hawkeye guiding him because of his blindness.

"So, he wants to die, huh?" he asked blatantly. "Yeah. That freaking idiot just wants to give up. Give up everything for himself. I don't care anymore. He can do what he wants." I fumed and stormed back to Als room.

Drake POV

I layed there in pain as Ed just got done yelling at me for giving up and left the room. Tears were flowing from my eye as I thought about everything that has happened. _I can't live like this. I can't do this to her. If I live, she will be in pain the rest of her life by just looking at me. I can't do that to her, or the kids._ I heard a knock on the door, then heard it open. I looked to see Colonel Mustang and Hawkeye holding his arm. "Hello, Blade. I've been told you're awake. So how does he look, Lieutenant?"

 _Why is he asking her? Can't he see for himself how the hell I look?_ "Considering his shape, he looks just fine, sir." Hawkeye answered and he nodded. They both walked over slowly and Hawkeye set him in a chair. _Why is he keeping his eyes closed? What is going on?_ "So, how are you doing Blade?" he asked. I wrote down on the paper the best I could without being able to see what I write. I'VE….BEEN….BETTER…..MUSTANG. Riza bent down and looked at what I wrote and chuckled. "He said he's been better, sir." _What the hell? Why is she reading it for him? Whats going on here?_

"I see. And what about this 'you want to die' stuff?" he asked and I closed my eye. I opened it back up and wrote more. WHAT….IS….IT….TO….YOU? Again, Riza bent down and read off what I wrote. "Not a damn thing, Blade. I really don't care what you do. I just thought I'd see what your reason is." I looked at him suspiciously and wrote more. THEN…..WHAT…..YOU…..WANT? Again, Riza read what I wrote, and Mustang turned to me. "To help you with your wish." He then stood up, grabbed a gun from Riza, and pressed it to my head.

"You want to die!? Tell me, and I'll gladly pull the trigger! I have no use for someone who gives up on his family! Go ahead! Say you want to die! You told me back there that I would become a monster if I killed Envy! But you're the monster who fights and saves his family, then decides to abandon them!" I stared at him in total shock at what he was doing. I wrote more. WHAT….THE…..HELL….DO...YOU….KNOW? Riza read it off and that was when he opened his eyes. I was shocked again to see that his eyes had no color to them. They were hollow and blank. "More than you think, Blade!" he said in a stern voice.

"I lost my sight from that transmutation. I will never see again. But I'm not giving up. I have goals that I will see to till the day I die. You have a family that you almost died for. That your wife almost died for! You still have them! And you want to give up and die!?" He cocked the hammer back. "Like I said, I have no use for anyone who gives up. So give me the word, and I'll gladly kill you myself!" he finished in a slight yell.

I closed my eye and a tear ran down my face. I opened it again and saw that Riza had a look of anger in her eyes pointed at me. "Don't do this Drake." she finally spoke. "There are ways past this. You don't have to take the easy way out. If you truly love your family and friends, then you would fight to stay with them. Don't you quit on them. They need you, and you know it." she finished and I looked at Mustang. He pressed the gun harder to my forehead.

"So whats it going to be, Drake Samuel Ganters!?" he asked in a very stern voice. I closed my eye and started to cry. _He's right. How could I be so stupid? I wanted to die and leave my family with nothing. I truly do deserve to die for being the monster I am. Wrath was right, I have turned into a monster. One that would rather die, than be there for those who love him. I don't want to die. I want to live...for them._ I felt tears flooding my face has I grabbed the pen and wrote. BRING….ME….MY….WIFE! Riza didn't say anything, but Mustang knew what I wrote. He lowered the gun and gave it back to Riza. "Go get her, Lieutenant." he ordered and she left.

Jess POV

I sat in my room and cried my eyes out. My husband wanted to die and leave me and the kids. He wanted to leave us. There was just no way I could go on without him. _And I wont! If he dies, I die!_ I heard a knock on the door. "Jess, it's Riza. May I come in?" I lowered my head and sobbed. "Do what you want." I spoke in tears. I heard the door open and Riza walk in. "Your husband wants to see you. Will you go?" I shook my head. "Why should I? I'm nothing to him anymore. Me, or the kids. It's all over."

Riza walked over and sat down next to my bed. "So, you want to give up too? You want to give up on him?" she asked and I turned away. "Why shouldn't I? He already gave up on me and the kids. So why shouldn't I give up on him?" I broke out in a river of tears as Riza put her hand on my shoulder. "Because you love him too much to give up. And so does he." she answered and I turned to her. She had a smile on her face, but sadness in her eyes. I broke out crying and grabbed her in a hug, crying into her shoulder.

We sat there for a while until my tears slowed up. "Take me to him." Riza pushed me away and nodded. She helped me into the chair and wheeled me out of the room. We got to my husbands room and I stopped her. "Thank you, Riza. For everything." She didn't say anything, she just nodded and pushed me into the room. I saw Mustang standing next to him and they were shaking hands. He turned and saw me, then turned back. "We'll leave you now. Lets go, Lieutenant." Riza nodded and guided him out of the room.

I rolled over to my husband and lowered my head. His hand touched my cheek and I put my hand over his, tears falling from my eyes. "Please, Drake….don't leave me…..Please." He pulled his hand away and lifted my chin. He smiled with tears in his eyes and wrote. I'M….SORRY…..HONEY….I….WAS….SELFISH…..I….WONT…..LEAVE...YOU. My eyes flowed as I looked in his eyes. I grabbed his hand and kissed him over and over. "You better not, you stupid idiot freak!" I cried and he pulled away again to write.

SOMEONE…..HAS….TO….TEACH….KIDS….TO…..HOWL. I smiled and slapped his hand. "You do that, and I will kill you." His eye closed and he smiled again. He pulled away and touched the tube in his mouth, then wrote more. DUH…..CANT…..STUPID…..WOLF! I laughed and hugged his hand. "We'll get through this hon. I know we will." He reached over and flicked my fore head and wrote. SHUT….UP…..WOLF! I smiled and lowered my head. "Go to hell, freak." He flicked me again and wrote. ALREADY…..THERE. I slapped his hand again and kissed it.

"I'll never let you go, Drake. Never. I love you, freak." He wrote again. LOVE...YOU….TOO…..WOLF. We both sat there holding hands and staring into each others eyes.


	34. Recovering: Part 3

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Recovering: Part 3

Drake POV

By Mustangs orders, Jess was moved to my room so we were always together. I loved having her with me, but now I wish I did die because of that god damn snoring. And what made it worse was the fact I had absolutely no way to wake her up and make her stop. The next couple of weeks, the first thing I would say to her was that I hated her because of that damn snoring. "You know you love me though." she would always answer back. I swear she is paying me back for wanting to die.

We heard a knock on the door and Jess told the person to come in. It was Mustang, and he had his eyes closed. After he showed me that he was blind, he always had them open. _Why are his eyes closed again?_ MORNING…..MUSTANG. Jess read it then told him. "Morning Blade, Jess. How are you today." he asked and I glared at my wife with both eyes. It turned out that Wrath had hit me in the eye, but didn't hurt it. It had bandages over it to let it heal.

PLEASE….MOVE...HER…..BACK….I...CANT….STAND….SNORING….NO….MORE! Jess read it, slapped my hand, then relayed. Mustang laughed. "Sorry, Blade. But you chose her and now you're stuck with her. Besides that?" I shrugged my good shoulder and wrote. I'M….FINE….I...GUESS…..YOU? He chuckled. "Better than you think." he said slyly and I looked at him confused. WHAT….YOU….MEAN? Jess started to read but he cut her off with his hand. _What is going on?_

He walked over and grabbed the paper from me. Now I was really confused. I looked at my wife and she just shrugged her shoulders. "Uh, Mustang. What's going on?" Jess asked as he 'looked' at the paper. "What do I mean? Well, I have a surprise for you two. Consider it a gift from the military." _Ok_ _ay_ _, what the hell is going on? If I could move, I'd beat the shit out of him._ He leaned down to my face and opened his eyes. The color was back in them and they weren't hollow anymore. My eyes were wide in shock. "And from me."

He stood up and walked to the door. "You can come in now." he spoke out into the hallway. Me and Jess looked at each other in pure confusion. We turned to the door and a familiar face walked in. "Doctor Marcoh?" Jess asked and he nodded. "Hello Jess, Drake. How are you two feeling?" he asked as me and Jess looked at each other again. Jess turned back to him. "Uh, we're fine, I guess. And how about you?" He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "I've been fine. I'm here on a doctors call from Mustang."

"Doctors call?" Jess asked and Marcohs face turned stern. "Drake." He reached into his coat and pulled a small red stone out. "You know what this is, don't you?" I lowered my eyes a second, nodded, then wrote. PHILOSOPHERS….STONE. Jess looked and read it out loud with shock. She turned to Marcoh with wide eyes. "You have one? Why do you have one?" Jess asked and he lowered his head.

"I will not go into details. But, it is a Philosophers Stone nonetheless." he said with sorrow then looked back at me. "You saw them, didn't you? Colonel Mustangs eyes?" My gaze turned stern and I slightly nodded then wrote. EXPLAIN! Jess read it. "Yes, explain that!" she demanded and Marcohs eyes went stern as well. "I used this stone to heal them." Jess gasped and my eyes went wide. "Healed them!? How!?" Jess asked with panic. "The Philosophers Stone can do anything with alchemy. It healed Colonel Mustangs eyes. It healed Lieutenant Havoks spine and now he can walk again. And."

He glared at me. "It can heal you." Jess gasped again and started crying while I was in too much shock to think. "Heal….him? What….do you mean?" Jess sobbed as Marcoh looked at the stone. This stone is almost used up. But it has enough power left in it to repair your lungs and let you breath again." With that, tears flowed from my eyes and Jess fell out of the wheelchair onto her knees. "He can….breath?" Jess cried and Marcoh nodded. "Drake, will you let me heal you? Will you let me return your life to you?"

I couldn't think, I couldn't do anything. I was just in way too much shock. "Heal him!" Jess finally spoke and we all turned to her sitting on the floor. "He cannot speak to answer, so I'll answer for him." Jess glared up at Marcoh. "You heal him! And give him back his life, with his family!" she yelled and the room went silent. Finally, Marcoh spoke. "I will." He walked over to me and pulled open my hospital gown. He drew an array on my chest and looked at me. "I'm afraid the air tube will have to come out, so it might hurt."

He reached for it, but I pushed his hand away, shocking him. "Drake?" Jess asked worried. I pushed myself up slowly to a sitting position. I grabbed the air tube and pulled. I could feel it dragging and scratching my throat, and it hurt like hell. Tears of pain fell from my eyes as the tube came out and all the air left my lungs. I felt my body start to suffocate from lack of oxygen. I looked at Marcoh, nodded, and mouthed the word 'Now!'.

He took the stone and pressed his hands to my chest. There was a red light and blue sparks danced around us. My chest fumed in pain as I could feel my lungs being moved around. The lack of oxygen got to me and I passed out as the light disappeared. My body fell back on the bed, limp. "Drake!" GASP! My body jolted as my lungs filled with air, then let it out. They continued to do so over and over again. My chest was in so much pain that tears were flowing from my eyes.

"Drake! Breathe, Drake!" Jess yelled as I drew another breath. "Jess!" I wheezed as the air left my lungs again and I pulled more in. "Breathe, Drake! Breathe!" Jess kept yelling as my chest kept heaving trying to get every inch of air it could get. "Jess!" I wheezed again. "Come on Drake! Breathe!" she yelled again as she took her fist and slammed it down on my chest, correcting my breathing. I found it much easier now, the pain left my chest as my breathing slowed to a normal rate.

"I...am...wolf!" I wheezed again as my breathing became regular. "Come on Drake! Breathe easy!" she yelled again. _Enough!_ I grabbed her gown and looked her in the eyes. "SHUT UP!" I yelled and she cried. "NO!" she yelled and pulled me into a kiss. We looked to Marcoh and the stone in his hand shattered and crumbled to nothing. Jess ran to him, kissed him on the cheek, then hugged him tightly. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" she cried into his shoulder.

"You're welcome." he whispered then left the room. _I can breathe! I can breathe again! My lungs, their working again! I can breathe!_ Jess ran to me and kissed me all over my face, the last one on my lips. "I love you, freak." she cried and I slightly chuckled. "Love you too, wolf." I wheezed. We held each other for what seemed like years, then Mustang chuckled. "Well, now that your better, I guess it's time for you to get back to work." he said jokingly.

Jess ran over and slapped him. "No! He's mine now! Not yours!" she said well anger and happiness. Mustang laughed. "Of course he is. He's all yours. After all, I don't want to hear him complaining to me over and over about your snoring any more." he joked. Jess slapped him again and grabbed him in a hug. "Thank you, Mustang." she said crying. He returned the hug and sighed. "Anytime." Just then Ed and Al entered the room.

"What the hell is going on in here? We could hear you from the other side of the damn hospital." he asked. "Well, long story." I wheezed and he jolted to me. "Drake! Did you just….talk!?" he asked shocked. I gazed at him and nodded. "Yup!" I answered and he and Al both smiled. "That's great. And hear I thought I finally got you to stay quiet." Now Jess ran over and punched him. "Shut up, runt!" she yelled. Her and Ed then got into a ranting session as the rest of us laughed.

After Jess and Ed calmed down, they walked back over to me and sat down. "So what will you do now, Drake? You plan to stay a State Alchemist?" Ed asked and I thought about it. "Yeah. I'll keep my certification. But." I turned to Mustang. "Like it or not, I'm taking a long leave of absence and spending it with my family." Mustang smirked. "Oh really? And if I say no?" he asked and now I smirked. "Then you can keep the watch. But I don't think you'll say no and lose you're best State Alchemist."

"Hey! Who said that you were the best!?" Ed demanded and I turned to him. "I killed Wrath on my own. You took on 'father' with a battalion." Everyone laughed and Ed twitched in anger. "He has a point, Fullmetal." Mustang added and Ed turned to him. "Oh shut up you bastard!" he yelled and we laughed even harder and Mustang turned to me. "As for your leave, I can't authorize no more than a month. However, I can place you on a mission pending list and keep moving you to the bottom of it. That way you wont be called for anything until you're ready."

I nodded, shook his hand, then he and Riza left the room. "So tell me, what the hell happened?" Ed demanded. "Well, long story short, doctor Marcoh came in and healed me. And for that, I'll always be grateful to him." Jess leaned over and kissed me. "And I as well, hon." she stated and kissed me again. "So whats your plan now?" Al asked and we turned to him. "Once Jess and I recover, we're going straight home to our kids. Which reminds me, how long have we been away now, hon?"

She turned to me and thought about it. "Hmm. Three weeks? Maybe a little more." she answered and I face palmed. "Three weeks alone with Winry. Yup! They howl by now." Ed and Al snickered as me and Jess lowered our heads in worry. "Yeah, they howl. We're dead." she stated and I turned to her. "It can't be any worse than your snoring, wolf." She glared at me.

"Freak!"

"Roadkill."

"Tin can!"

"Feline."

"FREAK!"

"HA! I win again! And as the prize, you have to wake up for the kids alone for a whole month." I teased. "That's not fair!" she complained and I laughed. "Is too." I teased more and she was getting very annoyed. "I hate you!" Now we were all laughing at her. "Shut up! I hate you all!" she whined. I pulled her over by her wolf ear and kissed her. "But you love us too." She growled and kissed me back. "Too damn much, freak!" I smiled and kissed her once more. "Damn wolf."


	35. Going Home

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Going Home

Jess POV

I was released from the hospital a week and a half after Drake was healed by doctor Marcoh. But he was still recovering from his wounds. The stone only fixed his lungs, but all of his other injuries were untouched. Not only that, he had nerve damage in his legs and had to learn to walk again to build them back up. He kept telling me to go home and stay with the kids, but I told him that we would leave together. And now, after spending two months in the hospital, he and Al were both released on the same day. We would all go home together.

"You ready to go home, hon?" I asked and he nodded. "Been ready for the past two months, wolf. Lets go get Ed and Al." We left his old room and slowly walked to the brothers room. We was still weak in the legs, so he had to use a cane to help support him. But at least we didn't have to worry about him having to go back to duty anytime soon. A month after the Promised Day, Lieutenant General Grumman from Eastern Command was promoted to Fuhrer. One of his first orders were that he was to be put on a medical recovery leave status until he fully healed.

We got to the brothers room and walked in. "Hey guys. You two ready to go home?" Ed asked and we both nodded. "Alright then. Lets go." We left the hospital and got into a cab that was waiting for us. "Central Station please." I told the driver and we left the hospital for good. "I can't wait to get home and see Winry, brother. And taste her apple pie." Al spoke and Jess turned to him. "She makes apple pie!?" she quickly asked. "Yeah. The best ever." Ed stated and Jess growled. "I'm going to kill that woman! Hiding the fact she can make apple pie from me!" she growled.

We all stared at her in confusion. "I had no idea you liked apple pie that much, Jess." I stated and she glared at me. "You do now." We all started laughing as the cab pulled up to the station. "Hey sir, wait here for just a moment. We may need you again." Drake told the driver and he nodded. We walked up to the ticket counter and bought the tickets for the next train to Resembool. But the train wasn't for another three hours. "Well, how about we go see Mrs. Gracia?" I asked and everyone nodded. We got back in the cab and drove to the Huges house.

We walked into the building, up to Gracias door, and knocked. "Coming." we heard her voice inside. The door opened and when she saw us she smiled. "Oh, hello guys. It's good to see.." She stopped when she saw Al standing next to me. "Is that...Alphonse?" she stuttered and we all nodded. Tears fell from her eyes as she ran to him and grabbed him in a hug. "Hello Mrs. Gracia." Al greeted and she kissed him on the cheek. "I'm so happy you finally got your body back, Alphonse." she said in tears.

We stayed at her place for about two hours because she cooked dinner for us. Al was so impressed with her cooking, but declined her apple pie. He said that he wanted to taste Winrys first and Gracia smiled. Me on the other hand, hell no. I ate about the whole damn thing myself. "Goodness, hon. You have the appetite of a wolf too." Drake stated and I turned to him. "When it comes to apple pie, I sure as hell do." I stated then returned to my last slice.

We said our goodbyes and headed for the station. We got there about ten minuets before the train was due to arrive, so we all sat on a bench to wait. "It's finally over, guys. All that pain and suffering, it's finally over." Ed finally spoke. "And good riddance." Drake followed. The train pulled in and we entered our usual booth as the train pulled away. "Hey Ed. What are you going to do now? You don't have alchemy anymore." I asked and he looked out the window. "Don't know. But I'll worry about that some other time. Right now, it's about time we all relaxed." he answered and we all nodded.

Drake POV

We were on the train for only three hours before Jess and Al fell asleep. And it was one of the very rare occasions that Jess wasn't snoring. Ed was looking out the window and I turned to him. "Ed." He turned to me. "Don't lie to me. Every time shes around you, I can see it. I am not stupid, Edward. I know you have feelings for Winry." He blushed and looked at me sternly. "I do not. Shes just a gear head. Why would I have feelings for her?" I didn't answer for a minuet, I just stared at him.

"Deny it all you want Ed. I see you truly have feelings for her. And here's a news flash for you, she has feeling for you too." I stated as Ed blushed more. "No she doesn't. And neither do I." I pointed at his face. "Then why are you blushing? Ed, I got lucky with my wife. You do have feelings for her. And if you don't admit them to her soon, she may just pass you by. Don't make that mistake. She a great woman, Ed. Regardless of how much you two bicker, I believe you two were meant for each other. And I've said all I need to." I leaned back and looked out the window.

Neither of us spoke a word for a while. "You're right, Drake." Ed stated and I turned to him. "I do have feelings for her. I've had them for a long time. But I don't know what to do." he finished and I sighed. "Just tell her, Ed. You know that's how me and Jess got together. So just do the same. Just pull her aside and tell her how you feel about her. I know it's hard, but if you don't suck it up and do it, you never will." Ed thought for a moment, then nodded. "Thanks Drake." I smirked. "And I hope it keeps her out of my hair for a while." Ed moaned. "Not helping."

We got off the train in East City to wait for the follow on to Resembool. The next train was not until the tomorrow morning, so we had to resort to a hotel. "We're going to get something to eat, guys. Wanna come?" I asked the brothers. "Nah. I'm kinda tired and couldn't sleep on the train. So I'm gonna go take a nap." Ed answered. "I'll go with you guys." Al followed and I nodded. We walked down to a local restaurant and placed our orders. "So, Al. How does it feel to finally have your body back?" Jess asked.

He just looked at her and smiled. "It's wonderful. To finally be able to feel again, and everything." I just smiled as well. "I know how you feel, Al. I really do." The waitress brought our food out and we dug in. We got done with our dinner and Jess turned to the waitress. "Ma'am. Do you have any apple pie?" Jess asked and I turned to her. "NO! No apple pie!" I yelled and she glared at me. "Why are you so mean!? Just one slice?" she begged and I face palmed. "No. You can beg Winry to make pie if you want. But none for now." She glared at me with rage. "I hate you."

We walked back to the hotel and up to our rooms. "Night, Al." Jess said as we entered our room. "I'm going to take a shower before bed, hon." I stated and before I could move, Jess ran into the restroom. "Wolves first!" she stated as the door closed. I ran up to open it, but she locked it. I started beating on the door. "Hey! Let me in!" I yelled. "Nope! Not a chance!" she yelled back. Then an idea hit me. "Guess I'll tell Winry not to make you any apple pie." I said in a sing song voice.

She rammed the door open, half naked. "You wouldn't!" Before she could act, I grabbed her in a hug and closed the door behind me. "Nope. I just wanted to join my wife in the shower." She slapped me then kissed me. "You're mean." she stated and I grinned. "Oh really? I'll show you mean." I grabbed her face and kissed her. After the shower, we both retired to the bed, yawning as we walked. "Man. I'm gonna have to talk to Winry about a new arm." I stated holding up my right forearm. "I'm sorry honey." I waved her off. "It's fine. I'll live." We both layed down and let sleep take us.

We left the hotel early in the morning to catch the train to Resembool. The ride was about nine hours long, so we should be home around dinner time. We boarded the train and took our booth. After the train left, Ed pulled out his deck of cards. It took a while for us to play cause we had to search Ed and check the deck. Once we found nothing wrong, we played no stakes poker. "Queen high straight." I said as I layed my cards down. Ed face palmed and looked at me. "I don't like playing with you."

"Hard to play, when you don't know 'how' to play without cheating. Ain't it?" Ed moaned and Jess set her hand down. "Nine high straight flush. I win, freak." Now I face palmed. "You learn too damn fast." I stated. And she did. Now none of us could beat her. We decided to stop playing. We finally arrived at Resembool and got off the train. "Home sweet home." Ed stated and we all nodded. We walked down the all too familiar road for a while until the familiar yellow house.

Den ran out of the house and stooped about ten feet from us when she saw Al. "Hi Den. It's me." Den twitched, then ran to him, licking him all over. I looked at my wife and she looked at me. I grinned. "Reminds me of last night." I whispered and she blushed. "Oh shut up, freak." We all stopped when we heard a gasp. We turned to see Winry standing on the porch with wide eyes. "Al?" We all smiled and walked to her. But she ran off the porch and tackled Al onto the ground. "Welcome home." she said through tears.

After a minuet, Winry let Al up and gave us all hugs. She gasped when she saw my missing arm. "What happened!?" she yelled and I sighed. "Long story. But we'll talk about that later." I stated. Me and Jess looked at each other then back to Winry. "Where are our kids?" we asked in unison, smiles on our faces.


	36. Reunion

**The Blade Alchemist: The War**

Reunion

Jess POV

Winry had just got done tackling Al and giving us all hugs. Me and Drake looked at each other, then back to Winry. "Where are our kids?" we both spoke with smiles on our faces. Winry smiled and nodded. "Their upstairs napping. They've been nothing but sweethearts." she said, then frowned. "Except Liz. I am so tired of that trouble maker." Me and Drake turned to each other. "Told you." I stated and he lowered his head. "Is it too late to take her to the pound?" he asked and fury filled my eyes. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THAT FREAK!" I yelled as I chased him around the yard.

It took me a while, but I caught him and really let him have it. For someone who just got out of the hospital, boy could he run. We all walked inside and saw granny. She walked over to Al and gave him a hug. "Welcome home everyone." she said then let Al go. "I'll make some tea for us." Ed, Al, and Winry went to the table. "We'll be there in a moment. We're going to see our children." Drake stated. We walked up the stairs and to the kids door.

We could hear them all sleeping peacefully from behind the door. We stood there and listened to them sleep. SNORE. Drake twitched and looked at me with agitated eyes. "Told you that one too." I stated and he moaned. A little too loud, cause all three woke up and started crying as tears came to both our eyes. We walked in and saw that they have really grown. I picked up Justin and handed him to Drake. Because of his arm, he couldn't pick them up really well.

I reached back down and picked up the two girls. We both stood there looking at them and rocking them back to sleep. "We're home, honey. With our children." I stated through teary eyes. Drake walked to me and put his head on my shoulder. "I know, hon. I know." We walked back downstairs with the kids and sat on the couch. "Wow. Such a happy family." Al stated and I looked at him. "Yes. We are."

Drake POV

I really couldn't believe that we were finally home with our children. "Wow. Such a happy family." Al commented and I just kept looking at my son. "Yes. We are." Jess answered. I looked up at Ed and he looked at me. I blinked my eye at him and tilted my head towards the door. He gave me an agitated look, but stood up from the table. "Winry, may I speak with you a minuet?" he said with his head lowered. "Sure, Ed." she answered and they both walked out the door. Jess turned to me.

"What was that about, hon?" I just shrugged my shoulders. "Beats me. Must be his leg." I answered then turned to granny. "Hey granny. I'm going to need a new arm. Can we get the surgery done this week?" She looked at me and nodded. "Sure thing Drake. We can do it in two days." she answered. I turned back to my son, then to my wife. "Switch. I want one of my daughters now." Jess scoffed, but handed me Sarah and took Justin. "Hey big girl. You been behaving?"

"Yes, she has. But I wont say the same for Elizebeth." granny stated and I turned to her. "That bad?" I moaned and she nodded sternly. "The others will sleep, be she always refuses. I've never seen a child like that." Me and Jess both moaned then turned to each other. "I'm starting think again about the pound idea." I stated, but Jess gave me the death glare. "You're lucky the kids are in my hands, freak." Granny chuckled and walked over to us. "They were a handful, but they are angels nonetheless. I was glad to have them here." I smiled and looked at Sarah. "After all you three put her through, you're lucky to have a grandmother like her." I cooed.

Then we heard the front door open and looked to see Ed and Winry walk in, heads lowered. "Guys. What's wrong?" Jess asked and I was getting worried that something went wrong. "Ed?" I asked and they looked at us. We stared at each other for a while, until Ed and Winry smiled. "Ed! What happened!?" I asked sternly and they both started crying. "I..." Ed choked and I was getting mad. "Ed! Enough of this! Spit it out!" I yelled quietly as not to scare the kids.

More tears fell from their faces as they held hands. "I proposed to Winry." Ed stated and Jess and granny gasped. I smirked. "And!?" I asked sternly again. "I said yes." Winry answered. No one said a thing for the longest time. Suddenly, Jess stood up and walked over to them. She encased Winry in a 'head' hug due to the kids in her hands. "Really!? I'm so happy for you two! I really am! Congratulations!"

I set Sarah in the nook of my right arm and gestured Ed to come over. I gave him a long hug and pushed him back. "Congrats Ed. Bout time you confessed to her." I teased and he twitched. Jess came over and 'head' hugged Ed. "Congratulations, Ed! This is such a happy day!" She released Ed and tears fell from her eyes. "Winry. Get over here and give me a hug." I ordered and she followed. We gave each other a hug and sat there. "I'm happy for you Winry. Congrats." She pushed back and kissed my cheek, tears in her eyes. "Thank you."

Everything was interrupted when Justin started howling. Me and Jess's heads snapped to Winry. "WINRY!" we yelled in unison. She held her hands up in surrender. "I didn't do it! I swear it! He just did it on his own! I promise!" Jess walked over to Ed and granny. "Here, take them a minuet." and they did. Jess glared at Winry and she ran out the door. "JESS!" I yelled and she turned to me as I pointed out the door. "KILL!" Jess ran out the door, grabbing one of Winrys wrenches on the way, and ran after her. "TEACH MY KIDS TO HOWL WILL YOU!? YOU'RE DEAD WINRY!"

Ed and granny watched in pure terror at Jess's rage. "I take back what I said, Drake." Ed started and I turned to him. "On?" He turned to me. "Her temper really is worse than Winrys." he finished and granny nodded. "I told you, Ed." We all heard a thunk sound outside and we turned to the door. "Sounds like she got her." I stated, then Jess walked in panting, rage still in her eyes. We looked down and saw blood on the wrench. "I hope you didn't just kill my soon to be wife." Ed moaned in fear and Jess looked at him. "I warned her about teaching them to howl!"

Then Winry walked in holding her head. "OW! Jess! That hurt!" Jess glared at her and she shut up. "How does it feel to be hit with one of your own wrenches Winry?" Ed asked in a laugh. Jess walked over calmly and took Liz away from Ed and gave her to me. She turned to Winry. "Winry!" she yelled and Ed ran out the door now. Jess pointed out the door. "KILL!" Winry took the wrench that Jess had used on her, and ran after Ed. "GET BACK HERE YOU ALCHEMY FREAK! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

That night, we all sat down and had dinner together. Granny made a special roast and pot pie to celebrate the days events. "So guys." I started, looking at Ed and Winry. "Plan on any kids yet?" Ed blushed and Winry glared. "I had to deal with snoring, howling, and a trouble maker for two months! Hell no we're not having any kids for a long time!" Winry yelled and we all laughed. "Shut up!" she whined but we all kept laughing. "Fine! No apple pie!" Jess stopped and stared at her. "I wouldn't go there Winry. Trust me." Winry looked at me confused, then to Jess who had fury in her eyes. Winry cowered back as Jess growled. "Get. The. PIE!" she yelled and Winry ran for the pie.

We all had a slice of Winrys pie, or Jess ate half of it. "That was great Winry. I've been waiting for years to have your pie." Al commented. "Yes! Best pie ever! Thank you, Winry!" Jess added and Winry smiled. "You're welcome guys." We all sat in silence for a moment. "Guys." Ed started and we turned to him. "It's been a long journey. Liore. Dublith. Rush Valley. All of the places we ended up. All of the times we fell down, and got back up." He turned to me. "A world traveler." He turned to Jess. "A wolf." He turned to Al. "Your body back." He finally turned to Winry. "My new wife. All of it. The journey and hardships were all worth going through for what we got in the end. And I'm glad it was with all of you."

We all stared at him with tears in our eyes. "Everything I lost, my old family, friends, and life. I was glad to give it all up for all of you guys. I have never been happier. Thank you all." I finally said and Jess looked at me. "I never had a life. I was stuck in that lab for twenty four years, knowing nothing but pain and sorrow. Till you all came along. You all changed that. You gave me a second chance at life." She turned back to me. "And you gave me love and three beautiful children. I will never be able to thank you all enough." I bent over and kissed her.

"There were so many times that I wanted to give up. That I would never get my body back. So many times where we almost died. And now, here I am, in the flesh again. Nothing I do will ever show you how grateful I am to you all." Al finished. We all sat in silence for a long time. "But it's over now." Ed finally spoke. "All that pain and suffering, is finally over. Now we can live out the rest of our lives, as a family." Ed finished and Jess turned to him. "If you're family, does that mean that you'll wake up for the kids too?" We all busted out laughing like crazy as Ed moaned. "No." He answered.

We all decided to drink that night. Granny decided to let Ed and Winry drink this once due to their soon to be marriage. But Al was told no, so he said he wanted to spend time with the kids. We all sat at the table talking about our adventures. We were having the night of our lives, until Jess's head dropped on the table. "Jess? Is she okay?" Winry asked and I turned to her. "Lightweight." Ed snickered and Winry shook her head. "Should we put her to bed?" Winry asked. Me and granny looked at each other, then at Winry. "That wont happen." we said in unison. "What do you mean?" Ed asked and granny turned to him. "You'll see soon enough."

Suddenly, Jess lifted her head, walked to the living room, and fell on her face. "Jess!" Winry cried but I stopped her. "I wouldn't touch her if I were you. Trust me. Just let her be." Winry nodded and sat back down, a little wobbly herself. "You don't look too good yourself." Ed stated. "Oh shut up, Ed." Winry said then finished her drink and poured another. Winry was getting really tipsy now, and Jess was still on the floor. "It's time for bed, hon." Ed started but Winry pushed him away. "I ffinne, Eed"

"Great. Now we have two drunk women in the house." I stated. Suddenly, Jess got off the floor, ran outside, and started howling. Ed turned to me. "You weren't lying!?" he asked and I shook my head. "Nope!" Just then, Winry got up, ran out the door, and joined Jess in howling duo. Ed and I looked at each other surprised. "Great! Now you wife has turned mine into a damn wolf!" Ed blurted, then we all laughed our asses off. Until Justin started howling as well. Me and Ed face palmed. Granny turned to us smiling. "I'll get Justin, you two get the ladies." she stated then walked upstairs.

"Quite the family we have. Huh, Ed?" He turned to me with an agitated look. "Oh, yeah. Just swell." We got up from the table and walked outside to grab our drunken wives.

 **And that's the end of the story. However, not the end of the groups adventures. I am now writing a story that takes place years after this one. It will be titled,**

 **The Blade Alchemist: New Adventures**

 **I hope you all have enjoyed reading this story and look forward to your reviews.**


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